FST July News Update
ONLY FOUR WEEKS UNTIL …
… you know, when it all starts again. We hope you’re all having a great summer and finding something to fill the endless days until we re-convenve in Brighton, or indeed Portugal if you’re planning to take in a friendly.
Despite the break in action on the field, your Trust board has been hard at work over the summer on a range of activities which we thought you’d like to hear about, along with some other news.
See you all soon!
Please save Thursday, November 20th for the FST AGM. More details will be sent to members in due course.
TRUST ATTENDS FSA AGM
A delegation from the Fulham Supporters’ Trust attended the Football Supporters Association’s Annual General Meeting in Manchester last month.
The conference was opened by ITV and Talksport commentator Sam Matterface and our former Trust chair Tom Greatrex, who is now the chair of the FSA. The event heard from the shadow regulator Martyn Henderson, PGMOL select group manager Rebecca Welch, who spoke about her experiences of refereeing at Craven Cottage in 2023, and a series of workshops.
The AGM voted on a number of motions and elected several supporters to positions within the organisation, including Trust member and chair of the Fulham Lillies, Sarah Keig, to the role of Premier League network representative. We congratulate Sarah on her election and look forward to working on a number of initiatives – including the FSA’s Stop Exploiting Loyalty campaign – during the forthcoming season.
The Trust delegation also attended the FSA’s community club day, hosted by FC United of Manchester. The day included a series of presentations from supporter-owned clubs and discussions about how to increase the influence of supporters’ trusts at their football clubs. We look forward to working with the FSA’s national officers and our fellow supporters’ trusts to increase supporter influence and representation up and down the country over the course of the new season.
STOP EXPLOITING LOYALTY
The Trust reaffirmed our support for FSA’s Stop Exploiting Loyalty campaign by voting for a motion to continue the campaign on ticket pricing and protecting the community foundations of football at the FSA AGM.
The campaign has been prominent at Premier League, EFL and non-league grounds throughout the past two seasons, including at Craven Cottage. It has achieved season ticket price freezes at Brentford, Everton and Manchester City and the scrapping of plans to remove senior citizen concessions at Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. The Trust were involved in a number of events at Premier League and FA Cup matches last season and look forward to continuing to campaign for more affordable ticket prices this season alongside our fellow supporters’ groups.
We will continue to make the case for more affordable and accessible ticketing options during our discussions with Fulham Football Club – and encourage our members to both get in touch and join us in taking action.
FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS EUROPE BIENNIAL GENERAL MEETING
The Trust attended the Football Supporters Europe Biennial General Meeting and Supporters’ Congress. The event heard from several speakers on the state of the European game including Romain Evain, the executive director of the FSE and Giorgio Marchetti, the deputy general secretary of UEFA.
There were several interesting sessions including on the influence of supporters in Sweden, the safety of supporters at away matches and the future of democracy within European football. We would like to thank the FSE, Malmo IF and the Malmo fans’ federation for their support and hospitality and look forward to working with our fellow European supporters’ groups over the coming year.
FOOTBALL GOVERNANCE BILL
The Bill will introduce an independent regulator for football, which is something the Trust has been campaigning for since our members passed a motion in support of this in 2010 and our submission to the Culture Media and Sport select committee in 2011. The Trust also participated in the fan-led review undertaken by Tracey Crouch in 2021 and have since lobbied our members of parliament for both better governance of the game and a greater role for supporters’ organisations.
The FSA’s website has an in-depth look at what the legislation means and how the regulator will operate. We look forward to working with our fellow fans’ representatives and the regulator to improve the governance of the game.
IT’S NOT JUST BANTER
Trust board member Tamara Dragadze is featured in the FSA’s video challenging sexist chanting at games in the organisation’s latest Women’s Voices in the men’s game initiative. The video consists of FSA members calling on men at the match to challenge sexist chanting which remains all too commonplace
The Trust fully supports this campaign and we are proud of the diversity of Fulham’s fantastic fanbase, both at Craven Cottage and at our away games. We will continue to work with our members and Fulham Football Club on equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives – and we would welcome any comments, queries or participation from our members. Please do get in touch.
PUTNEY BRIDGE STATION ACCESSIBILITY CAMPAIGN
Trust members and the Fulham Disabled Supporters’ Association have launched a campaign to make Putney Bridge station accessible having become frustrated with the lack of progress made by Transport for London.
The campaign has earned the support of Chelsea and Fulham MP Ben Coleman. We encourage every Fulham fan to sign this petition to ensure that TfL take action to make journeys more accessible for everybody using Putney Bridge station. You can add your name to the petition on Ben Coleman MP’s website here.
REST IN PEACE GORDON JAGO, MALCOLM ELIAS, DIOGO JOTA
The Trust were saddened to learn of the passing of former Fulham first team coach and vice president of the Dallas Cup, Gordon Jago, aged 92 earlier this month.
Gordon began his coaching career at Craven Cottage in 1967, joining the first-team coaching staff, and went on to manage Queens Park Rangers, Millwall, the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Dallas in the North American Soccer League. He became a key figure in the development of the Dallas Cup, a Texas-based international youth competition, after retiring from coaching and settling in the United States.
The competition, which Fulham’s academy side won in 2010, named one of their groups after Jago in recognition of his immense contribution to youth football in the United Kingdom and around the world. Gordon received an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his commitment to growing the game and we wish to offer our sincerest condolences to his friends and family at this sad time.
The Trust were also deeply saddened by the death of Fulham Football Club’s senior head of academy recruitment, Malcolm Elias, in July following a short illness.
The Welshman was a key part of revolutionising Fulham’s academy – having moved to Motspur Park from Liverpool in 2009. Elias, who had previously worked with Huw Jennings and Steve Wigley in Southampton’s youth set-up bringing through the likes of Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Calum Chambers and James Ward-Prowse, played a key part in developing the likes of Harvey Elliott, Fabio Carvalho, Ryan Sessegnon, Luke Harris and Jay Stansfield and many, many more.
Elias, a highly renowned figure across the game, will be sorely missed by everyone connected with Fulham Football Club. He was a driven but respectful character, who understood acutely why the fans wanted to see homegrown players progressing into the first-team set-up. His legacy will be one of immense achievement – even if we are all saddened by his passing as Malcolm had so much more to give.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Malcolm’s family at this deeply sad time. We send our condolences and best wishes to his wife Paula, his sons Andrew and Daniel, his six grandchildren and everyone fortunate enough to have called him a friend. His contribution to Fulham’s academy and the Club’s continued success will never be forgotten.
Like the rest of the football community we were shocked by the sad death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota in a car crash earlier this month. We have sent our sincerest condolences to Liverpool Football Club, Spirit of Shankly – the Liverpool supporters’ trust – and Diogo’s friends and family at this time of devastating loss.
TETE SIGNS NEW CONTRACT
The Trust were delighted by the news that Fulham full back Kenny Tete signed a new three-year contract with Fulham earlier this month. Kenny’s outstanding performances since moving to Craven Cottage from Olympique Lyonnais five years ago have made him a fans’ favourite and we look forward to seeing him in action again as Marco Silva’s side begin their pre-season preparations later this month.
TC STAYS
It goes without saying we were delighted to see Tom Cairney sign up for another year with the Club. His influence on and off the pitch cannot be underestimated.
JOSH KING COMMITS HIS FUTURE TO FULHAM
The Trust were also pleased to see that teenage midfielder Josh King has committed his future to the club by signing a four-year contract earlier this month. We look forward to seeing Josh continue to impress in the first-team following his impressive eleven senior appearances last season.
DE FOUGEROLLES SIGNS NEW DEAL
The Trust were delighted with the news that Canadian international defender Luc de Fougerolles has signed a new four-year contract with Fulham Football Club, which will see him remain at Craven Cottage until 2029.
We wish to congratulate Luc on his outstanding performances for Canada at the Gold Cup this summer and look forward to following his development at Fulham.
FULHAM ANNOUNCE PRE-SEASON PROGRAMME
Marco Silva’s first-team squad will play three pre-season friendlies ahead of the start of the new Premier League season – at the time of writing. The players are heading to Portugal for a pre-season training camp on the Algarve between Friday 25 July and Saturday 2 August.
The Whites will face fellow Premier League side Nottingham Forest in Faro on Saturday 26 July at 5pm. Tickets are available here and Fulham fans will be sat in sectors 17 and 18 of the stadium (which are shown in orange on the link). Our friends at the Libero website have put together a comprehensive guide to Faro, which Fulham fans might find useful. We’d like to thank Libero for allowing us to use their guide.
Fulham are also scheduled to play Portuguese outfit Vitoria de Guimaraes on Saturday 2 August in Faro, but details of this fixture have yet to be confirmed by the club. We would encourage fans to keep checking the club’s official website for further details regarding this friendly.
The first team’s final pre-season friendly will be against Bundesliga opposition in Eintracht Frankfurt at Craven Cottage on Saturday 9 August, with kick off at 5pm. Ticket information is available here.
TWO PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES MOVED FOR TV
Two of Fulham’s Premier League fixtures in August have been selected for live screening on television and have seen their kick off times change since publication of the fixture list last month.
Fulham’s first home game of the season against Manchester United will now be shown live on Sky Sports and has been moved to Sunday 24 August with a 4.30pm kick off.
The first SW6 derby of the season at Stamford Bridge has been moved forward to a 12.30pm kick on Saturday 30 August in order to be broadcast by TNT Sports.
You can keep an eye on potential future fixture changes through the Trust’s colour-coded fixture list.
ELEVEN ACADEMY PLAYERS SIGN SCHOLARSHIPS
Eleven of Fulham’s most promising youth team players have signed scholarships with the club ahead of the 2025/2026 season.
The Trust congratulates Matt Bagot, Anand Batra, Nazim Benchaita, Tarrell Cavell, Damian Cech, Dylan De-Gale, Aidan Evans, Markuss Gomins, Bashil Lubega, Kymarley Morrison and William Sutton-Bangura on signing their first professional contracts.
We look forward to supporting them and Fulham’s under-18s during the forthcoming season, starting with a pre-season friendly against Cobham FC at the Reg Madgwick Stadium on Tuesday 29 July, with kick off at 7.15pm.
UNDER-21 PRE-SEASON PROGRAMME
Fulham’s under-21s will play two public pre-season friendlies ahead of the new campaign. Hayden Mullins’ side will play Braintree Town away on Friday 25 July, with kick off at 7.45pm. The young Whites then host Woking at Motspur Park on Tuesday 29 July, with kick off at 7pm. The attendance for this fixture is limited to 500 supporters – so the Trust urges our members to book swiftly via the club’s official website to avoid disappointment.
We would like to congratulate two former winners of the Trust’s Johnny Haynes Trophy on securing season-long loan moves to Chesterfield ahead of the new campaign. 2024 winner Matt Dibley-Dias will gain further first-team football with the Spireites, whilst 2025 winner Devan Tanton has rejoined the League Two side after his loan spell with Paul Cook’s side was cut short through injury last year.
KIM JERRAY-SILVER WINS BRITISH CITIZEN’S AWARD
The Trust would like to send our warmest congratulations to former Fulham Ladies full back Kim Jerray-Silver on receiving a British Citizens Award for her community work since retiring from football.
England international Kim, who was part of Fulham’s treble-winning side of 2003, retrained as a firefighter after hanging up her boots. As well as being one of the first on the scene at the 7/7 London bombings in 2005, she has led community outreach at the London Brigade’s fire station in Acton, where she has lived for all her life. This includes organising quarterly tea parties for elderly and isolated residents, an annual Halloween party – which catered for 1,500 guests last year – and organising community transport and trips for vulnerable members of the local community.
Kim is one of 27 national winners of the award having been nominated for her selfless service by those she has supported so superbly over the years. She will be presented with her British Citizens Award during a special ceremony at the Palace of Westminster on 24 July.
TALES FROM THE COTTAGE
The Trust would like to promote a new book from our friends at Ashwater Press written by longstanding member, Ken Myers. Ken was Fulham Football Club’s communications manager between 1988 and 1996 and later ran the famous Fulham Fanline.
Tales from the Cottage is his story, which includes contributions from twenty former Fulham favourites including Gordon Davies, Terry Angus and Mark Newson. The book, priced at £15, can be ordered via the Ashwater Press website is well worth a read.
JOIN US
The Trust’s work is undertaken by volunteer board members and each new member helps amplify our voice. Please do encourage your Fulham friends and family to join the Trust – and we would be delighted to hear from any members who would be interested in assisting with our work. You can read more about our recent work here and join the Trust here.
Please look out for our annual survey, designed to gauge the opinions of our members and the wider Fulham fanbase, which will be issued in August.
With thanks,
Simon, Jerry, Sue, Dan, Tamara, Jakub, Gavin, Steve & Hayley
