Notes from our May meeting with the Club
On Wednesday 14 May 2025 at 13.30, the Fulham Supporters’ Trust met with Fulham FC via video conference.
The Club was represented by:
* Alistair Mackintosh (Chief Executive, AM)
* David Daly (Non-Executive Director, DD)
* Darren Preston (Chief Operating Officer, DP)
* Jack Burrows (Marketing Director, JB)
* Glen Sutton (Fulham Pier Director, GS)
* John D’Arcy (Head of Safety, JD)
* Jamie Nicholson (Head of Supporter Services, JN)
* Jane Woods (Head of Ticketing, JW)
* Nicola Walworth (Supporter Liaison Manager/SLO, NW)
* Tracey Hubbard (Deputy Support Centre Manager, TH)
The FST was represented by:
* Simon Duke (Chair, SD)
* Jerry Cope (Treasurer & Membership Secretary, JC)
* Hayley Davinson (Vice-Chair, HD)
* Tamara Dragadze (Board member, TD)
HOW IT WORKS
At our regular monthly meetings, Trust board members normally ask questions relating to as many topics as possible in the time available, based on responses from members to the advance notification of the meeting and our own observations from interacting with the wider supporter base. The Club then gives its position, which is discussed. These notes are therefore a statement of both points of view. The Trust continues to press both the Board’s and its members’ view at this meeting and in separate meetings.
Often members ask similar questions, and, in these cases, we try to summarise, provide the Club with feedback and gain as much useful information as possible in the time available. We also prioritise new and time-critical topics, whilst also seeking updates on longer running issues. Other items are often taken up directly with Club outside these sessions.
You can access notes of all previous meetings on our web site, including the most recent information on key topics not covered at this meeting.
Items focussed on at this meeting were:
* Riverside Stand
* Ground
* Ticketing
* FFC Women’s Teams
* Other Business
SD opened the meeting by congratulating the Club on good seasons across all teams, albeit Women’s teams notably apart, there had been some disappointments as the season drew to a close.
Riverside
SD re-affirmed the Trust’s support for the Fulham Pier initiatives, and the new Riverside stand, as a critical way of helping close the sustainability gap for the Club, whilst keeping ticket prices affordable for Fulham fans in other parts of the ground. He asked whether the Club, with Trust help, could do more to underline the importance of the developments and making them a success, whilst maintaining focus on the general supporter base. There still seemed to be a lot of misunderstanding and the Trust felt greater communication was needed.
AM thanked the Trust for this offer. GS added that as the Fulham Pier was brought fully into operation over the coming weeks, much more advertising etc would be seen, making clear that the facilities were not just a matchday experience but an all-year-round asset for the Community bringing much needed income to the Club. In response to a question from the Trust he said there were currently no plans for a Thames clipper stop at the Pier, but this would be kept under review.
HD asked whether the Club saw the Riverside and Fulham Pier as a combined ‘brand’ or as separate. JB replied that they were separate – the Riverside is matchday focused, whilst the Fulham Pier is every day.
DP added that any Riverside issues left by the previous main contractor had now been resolved.
Ground
JC said that the Trust acknowledged the huge amount of work undertaken to follow up reported issues of disruptive away fans in home areas, but the problem persisted including at the recent matches against Everton and Chelsea, which the Trust were following up separately. He asked if the Club could, at the start of next season, re-iterate that Season Ticket Holders and Members were responsible for the behaviour of fans to whom they supplied home area tickets.
NW agreed to consider this as part of communications for the new season, which could also make clear, contrary to some continuing misconceptions, that there was no longer a neutral element to the Putney End. JD added that stewards continued to tread a fine line between ejecting fans with the huge disruption that could cause and simply trying to quieten things down. They were about to trial a faster communication system between stewards and the control room to assist such judgements. But firm action had been taken across the season with some 158 ejections, the majority away fans in home areas, and 27 Club bans. JD confirmed that a full review of the 24/25 season would take place in the summer and would be a key subject at a Premier League conference shortly. Very many Clubs were continuing to have deal with the issue.
In response to a question from JC, DP said that there were no immediate plans to introduce safe standing at Craven Cottage, and there were no Premier League deadlines on this issue. DP said that the building focus this summer would be to complete the Riverside, to introduce the new Premier League requirements on changing rooms, and to introduce changes at Motspur Park training facilities requested by the Manager. There was no capacity or logistical capability to undertake other work, but the congestion problems at the Hammersmith end and at Johnny Haynes stand were kept under review, and they were considering more spill-out space at the latter.
In response to JC, DP confirmed that Craven Cottage capacity, with the Riverside stand operational, was now a little under 28000.
It was agreed that next month the Trust and Club would aim to meet for a ‘deep-dive’ into catering issues raised by Trust Members.
Ticketing
HD asked how the Club felt that digital ticketing had gone in this first season, and what was needed to meet the Premier League requirement for full digital ticketing, home and away, for season 26/27. JB responded they were undertaking a review, but the Club were broadly pleased. It was noted that Cup games had been more of a challenge than League matches, where fans were issued with a different ticket to their season pass, or moved stands for a single match. It seemed that the incentives to ticket-holders to arrive earlier worked less well in the Johnny Haynes stand, possibly because of the congestion underneath the Stand. There was no immediate fix for this, given the Johnny Haynes structure, but DP added that Apple seemed to be prepared to look at the issue of some tickets not loading, a problem faced by a number of Clubs using this system.
In response to a further question from HD, JB said that the Club were happy with the way the Ticket Exchange had worked this season – it had been used 8 times. SD said that the Trust remained of the view that the system would work financially better for both the Club and supporters if the Exchange was operated on a stand-by-stand basis and pressed the Club to continue to look at such an approach.
HD asked if the Club could confirm no changes to concession structures, and it was confirmed no changes were currently being planned. JB added, in response to a further question, that the Club were planning to sell more season tickets for 25/26, depending on how sales went – there was no cap currently in place. He added that season ticket sales had started strongly compared to last summer.
FFC Women’s Team
The Trust asked if any further light could be shed on the ineligibility reasons for the first team’ withdrawal from the recent Cup Final. The Club said that it had apologised to the other teams involved, and had agreed the public statement with all parties involved, so was not in a position to say more.
TD asked the Club to confirm that it would be complying with the requirements of a Tier 4 Club for next season, not least the provision of refreshments at matches. DP confirmed he was not expecting any issues, and the Club had applied for an alcohol licence at Motspur Park to use as appropriate.
JB added that the Club had been very pleased with attendance for the women’s team at the Cottage, with numbers comparable to many women’s Championship and some lower end WSL teams. Gates at Motspur Park had remained consistent in comparison to last season, but the Club will be looking at how they can improve the experience and continue to grow attendances, alongside the team’s promotion to a higher tier.
Other Business
In response to points raised by Trust Members:
* The Club said that the recent advertisement for a coach was part of a Premier League led initiative to increase representation amongst coaches of under-represented groups, black, Asian, mixed heritage and female;
* It was hoped to have the first of next season’s kit available in early July; there would be 3 new men’s kits for 25/26, as well as female and young person’s kits with different sponsors;
* Although the Club appreciated that supporters like to plan their holidays, there was no firm news yet on Tour plans and pre-season fixtures; they would be publicised as soon as they were finalised.
There was a frank discussion around the open letter that the Trust had issued in response to the recent announcement on season ticket prices. It was concluded that it was important that the Trust and the Club used the recently agreed re-set of relationships to improve communications and dialogue between all parties.
Finally NW thanked TD for her work, as an individual, in organising the AGE UK Ladies outing to the Everton game, which had been a great success, much enjoyed by participants. TD in turn thanked the Club, especially NW, for all the work that had gone into this.
The meeting closed at 1430.
Thank you for your continuing support of the Trust.
The Board of the Fulham Supporters’ Trust
