Our Future.....slightly worried....

[Adam87]

I really feel the club have been standing still for the last 3/4 years and could and should have acted sooner on either the staduims future and what will happen with the clubs future ownership. After reading about the qatari story today i think its vital we keep up with the times and that increased attendences are a must and building for the future is more important than ever as the league is getting more and more competetive each year, espcially if new investors coming into clubs, QPR for example.

So the stadium + qatari investment....

There are alot of intresting little sub plots here if this story if ithas any truth. Mo loves the club and has been very loyal and has backed up everything he has said over the years....so fair play to him and he should collect all the plaudits. We are slowly going from strength to strength. I cant see him selling the club and then having himself isolated from the clubs future....i think the current staduim developments dont inidicate that Mo is selling any time soon unless the qatati's are investing in the club - which would make sense.....but i just cant see this happening as they want to do things themselves....thats just their culture....they dont invest in their business....they take over and build it up even more. However, i see a problem on the horizen......and the question is simple as though you were playing blackjack and you were dealt 15.......stick or twist?

I think alot of people are infavour of staying at the cottage (like myself), but there will come a time where we simply cannot expand any further which will allow clubs maybe to over take us or even catch up....im already looking over our shoulder at the QPR situation. If we look at 10 years down the line....we will need to have home crowds of at least 30,000.. going towards 40,000 if we are going to generate the finances to balance the books to keep us in the premiership long term. This all indicates to a new stadium, unless signifcant changes are made to the cottage.
We cant do anything with the stevenage road end that would increase the space or build on it as far as i know..  limited space at hammersmith and putney....ok they have had a good result with the riverside and i love the design, but i still dont see how our ground will be able to keep up with the future. I assume the club are now destined to say at the cottage and i for one think this is the safe and right choice, but eventually we will come to point where we can go no further....however i still think this is the right choice....but only just.
The main reason i was against moving was simply due to the location of the new staduim, it will be nowhere near fulham, i think this will be a huge problem for fulham fans, it might also attact new fans so you never no.

Attendences are increasing every year and hopefully season tickets will continue to follow but we will reach our limit sooner or later and we dont want to get into a situation where whoever is running the club takes money out and puts the bare minimum in.....portsmouth, blackburn, southampton just a few of similar sized clubs who have suffered this fate and look what they have been through. I basically pray the Al fayed family do not sell the club.


My question is....what do you think the club are planning for the next 5 years? and for the long term future of the club would you see moving being more benefical or a massive risk?

Oh yes...great result today COYW!!!!

[fulhamthroughandthrough]

I think it's vital we keep Allaistar Mcintosh no matter what happens.

[MJG]

Did I miss the last four years?
We are a club thar has been in the top ten 3 out of 4 of them. We now are getting 45 plus pts per season on a regular basis.
We have possibly the best group of players we have ever had and even if some leave we have the youth and standing in the game to improve.
We are fixing the roof on one stand and have plans to extend the other.

On top of all that we got to a final two years ago.

We are not standing still at all, but we have to be honest that we are still a smallish club which sells 25k seats but a lit if these are at reduced prices. We need to increase our marketing income as well. But we are buliding it all at a sensible speed. Get to 30k and then look at the other two ends.
I don't want to move and see no reason to do so.
The two years away proves that fulham is the cottage and long may it stay that way.

Standing still...no..moving briskly...yes.