Does Fulham still have that family club feel about it?

[SouthfieldWhite]

I spoke with someone at the club the other day, and said i didnt feel Fulham has that family club feel about it, afterwards i was wondering if i was a bit harsh in saying thst.

I think we all have to agree that football is a business, and the name Fulham FC is now a brand, but do you think we can and do we have that damily club feel about us?

Not many Prem clubs do to be fair, but we aint just any Prem club, I feel we are a special club but with all the success weve had over the last 15 or so years, have we moved away from being known as a family club?

[Andy_M]

My personal feeling is that although I see your point about Fulham feeling less like a family club, if you visit any other Prem club you realise just how much Fulham is still like a family club in comparison.

The club has had to move with the times and with our success but I don't think it has forgotten what makes Fulham Fulham and what the fans love about it.

[JBH]

A friend who works at Motspur Park said that under M Hughes the club was fast losing its family club feeling but since MJ has arrived it is slowly coming back

[AlFayedsChequebook]

My personal feeling is that although I see your point about Fulham feeling less like a family club, if you visit any other Prem club you realise just how much Fulham is still like a family club in comparison.

The club has had to move with the times and with our success but I don't think it has forgotten what makes Fulham Fulham and what the fans love about it.

That is a good point, people often complain about Fulham but if you go to other grounds (particularly of bigger teams) you seem far more like a number than a fan.

[Tktd]

I think it still has it - did you see the amount of kids at the last games?

That said success will always mean that this will dissapear in time if it continues and from that we will have to either lose it or re-invent it... more supporters/bigger stadium

I've noticed a lot more randomers flocking to games nowadays then ever before... used to be the same old foolhardy souls, now it's anyone...

[ImperialWhite]

Doesn't every club think that it is special in this way though? Sure, we don't feel the vibe on a trip to Villa Park, say, but I'm sure Villa fans are probably having the same conversation on their message boards. As our Man United fans. And Liverpool fans. And Everton fans. And Grimsby Town fans.

I think there's a lot of phoney sentimentality in football. Nothing wrong with that, but it is just something to do on a Saturday afternoon, really.

[TonyGilroy]

It's a myth that we've ever really been a family club.

There's always been some employees who were fans and had rapport with supporters but the ownership, pre MAF, has actually been a sorry story.

Trinder, I suppose, was a supporter but his ownership regeime was shambolic and unbusinesslike. He got lucky with a crop of good young players in the late 50s but when they aged there was insufficient quality to replace them.

No investment and he got into bed with and then sold out to crooks who raped the club and sold what was left to "property developers".

Muddyman and Hill rescued the club from the "property developers" liquidators and whilst we must be grateful to them the actual running of the club was a depressing return to the Trinder days.

If MAF isn't seen as the head of the Fulham family then I don't know what he is but everything is geared to maximum profit if possible. The Ashwater Press saga may be symbolic but it remains to be seen whether the club's decision not to deal with them will end up as, commercially, the right or wrong decision.

I realised long ago that the club, collectively, is us not the current owners, managers or players but at no time have we had a better owner than we do today.

[epsomraver]

The days of the players socialising with the fans are long gone, they used to come and play cards with the fans on the trains years ago and nick a sandwich, since Mo took over it has all become secret squirrel time

[CorkedHat]

Although we need to define what we mean as a "family club" I am prepared too say that I don't believe that any Premier League club can afford to be a "family club".
It is a cut-throat business immersed with highly paid stars whose lives are remote from the average punter who turns up to each game as avid but disconnected spectators.
In days of yore when players had to go out into the work force to supplement their meagre wages you felt part of the club because the players were tangible and approachable. You could walk through Bishops Park with Arthur Stevens or prop up the bar with Tosh Chamberlain. You could travel on the away train and sit next to Maurice Cook or chat to Stan Brown.
They were your brothers for whom you would walk through fire to watch – a real family member in the true essence of the meaning.
I don't know that this kind of relationship exists today but whether that makes us less of a "family club" other people will decide. My personal opinion is that compared with the fifties and sixties we are not the "family club" that we were.

[ImperialWhite]

The days of the players socialising with the fans are long gone, they used to come and play cards with the fans on the trains years ago and nick a sandwich, since Mo took over it has all become secret squirrel time

I went to see Cambridge United win a Conference play-off semi-final and saw them in a pub by the ground after the game. Fantastic! How great would have been to buy a few  :beer:  :wine: :beer: for the team after Juve or Hamburg down the Crabtree eh?

[jarv]

I have a friend who worked for a premier league football club for almost a year. He did not enjoy it very much. In essence it was similar to Fulham. Not a big club, the owner and chief exec. die hard supporters, made it to a Euro final against the odds etc.

Apparently, within the club, nobody trusts anyone else. There was a significant amount of racism and sexism (behind closed doors). The management were constantly derogitory when discussing the players (seen as just a commodity and a greedy one at that).

The players, some were really decent guys, others not (to be expected I suppose). Clue to that club? Schwartzer was the nicest guy and McLaren was real nasty and absolutely not to be trusted.

Conclusion. Working for a football club is not all that pleasant and the family atmosphere we all imagine was like the family in the old tv program, Dallas :005:

[Jimpav]

I think it depends on the contact the term family club is used.

As a supporter I feel that the club has a strong family vibe. Where I used to sit in H5 there was a guy with a young son to the right of me and then an older guy with his daughter in her 30's.
Always plenty of kids at the match and a fair few seniors too.

Perhaps this is not exclusive to Fulham but it is certainly not the all male preserve that football used to be or had a reputation for.

I always feel safe and comfortable when at the cottage. There is rarely trouble with oppositon fans and generally the language is not too strong or frequent bar the odd muppet.

With regards to socialising with the players etc surely this is more a case of the game turning professional rather than a demise in supporter/player relations.

[MJG]

Its a business now, read David Lloyds page in toofif to see how the club has moved away from talking to him at a high level. When we were needed in the 80's & 90's we were there, and when it all goes pear shaped we will be here again.
If by family club do we have a good community side to the club, I would now say yes, if anything we are better than the dark days because of money. Look at the video of 1983 and then think that three years later were getting 2K gates. It was not a family club then, we were lucky to be a club at all.
Fulham is a safe ground to go to, but slowly prices are creeping up and although its fairly cheap at the moment, if we are still a prem side in five years I suspect the prices will drive some away from bringing kids, just as it does at chelsea and arsenal.
So family club, not at the moment.

[epsomraver]

Its a business now, read David Lloyds page in toofif to see how the club has moved away from talking to him at a high level. When we were needed in the 80's & 90's we were there, and when it all goes pear shaped we will be here again.
If by family club do we have a good community side to the club, I would now say yes, if anything we are better than the dark days because of money. Look at the video of 1983 and then think that three years later were getting 2K gates. It was not a family club then, we were lucky to be a club at all.
Fulham is a safe ground to go to, but slowly prices are creeping up and although its fairly cheap at the moment, if we are still a prem side in five years I suspect the prices will drive some away from bringing kids, just as it does at chelsea and arsenal.
So family club, not at the moment.

Very true.

[LBNo11]

...We are no longer a Fulham family club, but we are still one of the safest football grounds to take a family to watch premiership football.

We are now just 'client numbers', as Dave said, the days of fans knowing the players and the players knowing the fans have gone; the days when we knew the staff on 'first name basis' and they themselves knew us is also long gone, as has the mutual respect for the small bunch of fans who were there through thick and thin.

No matter how long we have been fans, what matters to Fulham FC, the business, is revenue and bums on seats, and if the old small group of long term supporters quietly leave, they will be replaced by new fans. The price of success I'm afraid. The question is will the new fans be there if, heaven forbid, Fulham drop down the leagues is questionable, but we know who will return to watching the whites and become part of the club again, and who will again be treated with renewed respect...

[LBNo11]

...I must add to my comments that there are 3 or 4 staff at Fulham FC who are still extremely helpful and go out of their way to help in customer relations...

[Motspur]

I think that the term family club has different meanings to different people. I can't agree with Tony Gilroy on this. The club hasn't changed beyond recognition in all the time I have watched Fulham and if you think back to the 70's (and the excellent clips of the cup campaign in '75 brings back fond memories) we have always had boys in our midst even though we have never been a feared club. The boys now at the back of the Hammersmith End who have taken their place aren't a great deal different to the boys who supported us then but because they are able to communicate through this type of forum, more people are much more aware of them. Because the size of our crowd has grown so too has the number of people who regard themselves as 'Fulham's firm'. By comparison to other clubs we are still not in their league so the spirit of the club largely carries on.
Tony's point largely focuses on the business side and running of the club which is not what I think Southfields meant. Our club was shockingly run pre Al-Fayed and the old autobiographies of Bobby Robson, Mullers and other snippets from ex players will tell you how bad it was. Indeed there isn't a supporter I know that didn't think our attendances were fiddled when it was pay on the gate through the turnstiles. One week you would come in thinking there must be 17000 in the crown and then you read the Evening News and Sunday papers that the 'official' attendance was 12000. None of us were stupid. We all knew the difference between a decent crowd and a less than half full ground. Today is no different in many respects except that I dare say our business dealings are entirely legal. Al Fayed wants Fulham to lose as little money as possible (a complete contrast to being a money making machine) and there should be no shame in this approach but to say the club is only about making money is a little disingenuous. Fayed has pumped money into this club year after year and nobody can continue to do that indetinitely so the emphasis must be on capitalising as much as possible where we can. To the clubs credit we are going to watch a European game tonight for a fiver and that, to me, highlights that the spirit of the club hasn't been totally lost but what I will say from watching some of our fans is that if we get too many more puppets behaving like twats and chanting anti IRA songs then I will say that Southfields may have a valid point.  

[HatterDon]

I think the distance between player and supporter has more to do with income and training regimen than anything else. In the early '70s, I used to see Luton Town footballers in this one pub on a regular basis. I got into a fairly long [5-10 minutes] conversation with Jimmy Husband about the future of football in the US and in the Americas on one occasion.

The thing is that 2nd division footballers [old money] -- even those with extensive top flight credentials like Husband, John Aston, and a couple of other Hatters -- weren't making all that much more than most of the folks in the pub. Jimmy Husband had less attitude than most of the high school [American] football players I knew as a teenager. He was just a guy making a living.

The other thing is that, in those days, it was traditional for a footballer to have a pint after the match on Saturday and rest on Sunday prior to going back into training. Now the post-match routine includes a specific meal as well as some routine physical activity.

There's something else, of course, that keeps players and supporters apart except in heavily orchestrated events. Players and clubs can be seen as potential sources of revenue in spurious lawsuits. Anybody nicking a sandwich on a train these days could find himself sued for 7 figures by some "supporter" after the main chance. 

[White Noise]

I think the owner, directors and management that exist do the best they can to preserve the club and the things that are considered important about it. I cannot conceive of an owner/s who would get the balance as right as the club currently do.

Young children are encouraged to get involved with the club on lots of different levels and Twitter is full of proud Mums and Dads before most games sharing the fact that one or more of their children is going to their first Fulham game. This sort of titbit is rarely shared on the messageboards these days but it always elicits nice well wishing responses and plenty of personal memories are shared.

I'm not advocating Twitter specifically in this post but you do get very different sorts of posts. Lots of people every week share their excitement at the upcoming game. Its bland and random in a context like a messageboard but it is enjoyable to share other peoples uncomplicated enjoyment of the club.

I was not going to football in the days of the sort of proximity to players described in this thread but Fulham players, ex-players and club staff are on Twitter and do talk to humble fans such as yours truly. Being able to talk to the likes of Schwarzer, Hughes, Briggs et al makes me feel closer to the club and is greatly appreciated by Fulham fans on Twitter. The players don't have to do it and, in truth, it must be a right pain a lot of the time.

Fulham get a modest amount of clog for their perceived failings but I think they get far more right than they get wrong. The mystique and sprinkling of star dust that has always existed is still there for me.

[finnster01]

The answer is NO!!! Anyone with children who still thinks that can just go have a look at that monstrosity of a statue we have tucked away in a corner, or as our chairman suggest, get lost and support the other team in Fulham.  080.gif