The wood yard behind the Hammersmith End

[SP]

This came up on TFI & was something I was unaware of.  Chairman Trinder's refusal to purchase this site before the flats were built.  If correct, what a shame, we could've done so much with that land?

[filham]

Never heard of that before but I imagine the sort of decision that he would have faced would have been the land or keeping Haynes at £100 per week. The club couldn't throw millions at things in those days.

[Andy S]

A bit of negotiation to both could have helped

[Fernhurst]

chance to buy the timber yard?? Never heard that before.
What a very foolish decision if true, but he was a "flash bang wallop" comedian so not a businessman.
There were businessmen on the board with him though. The Dean brothers should have counseled him.
How can we sure he was ever offered the yard?

[Fernhurst]

Why do we need floodlights Trinder ??
Why the heck do we need to keep the wind rain and snow off the supporters at the Hammy End...... oh that's the home end is it???

[HillingdonFFC]

I posted something about that on TFI a long time ago.
It's a 100% true. My dad had family who worked at Blake's Woodyard over a long period of time. His uncle Eddie was a foreman there for many years & very pally with the owners,  I think his dad worked there before him too although I'd have to check that
Owner approached Trinder & said he's selling up & would he be interested?. Trinder said what for? He replied parking, training ground, I don't know what , whatever you want to use it for. Trinder wasn't interested in any way shape or form. Was offered at a very reasonable price too apparently.
Times were different back then & TT wasn't a businessman but either way a massive lack of foresight/ambition etc.
It's funny because my grandad in the early 50s won enough money one night week at  Stamford Bridge dogs to buy a house in Fulham. They used to live in Black Lion Lane in Hammersmith, they rented. They looked at a house in St Peters Square across the road & place in Rannoch Road Fulham . In the end my nan put him off because they were worried what would happen if there was another war.
Those places would be worth silly money in years to come. I just think most people back then didn't realise how much London would change in future years

[FulhamStu]

My grandad sold 3 houses in Fulham back in the 70's for relative peanuts...We used to visit these houses when I was a nipper before he took me to the game.   if we knew what was going to happen back then in Fulham we would have invested everything we had and made a fortune.  Oh for a Crystal ball !

[filham]

I think I am right in saying that in the times we are talking about Fulham FC didn't own the Cottage but leased the ground from the Church of England,
Not buying the woodyard looks like a golden opportunity missed but you really have to try to put yourself in T.T.'s shoes at the time, can you imagine the fans reaction in those days when we really had to watch the pennies.
. Why waste money on an old timber yard when us fans have not even got shelter from the rain, the money would have been better spent on a new centre forward that may have taken us into the 1st Division , best buy our ground before speculating on neighbouring land. etc.etc.

Tommy Trinder had a number of critics as chairman but I think he did well to keep the club in the public eye and to keep us afloat on a shoe string budget. His great achievement of course was to keep Haynes at Fulham for his whole career.

[HillingdonFFC]

I think I am right in saying that in the times we are talking about Fulham FC didn't own the Cottage but leased the ground from the Church of England,
Not buying the woodyard looks like a golden opportunity missed but you really have to try to put yourself in T.T.'s shoes at the time, can you imagine the fans reaction in those days when we really had to watch the pennies.
. Why waste money on an old timber yard when us fans have not even got shelter from the rain, the money would have been better spent on a new centre forward that may have taken us into the 1st Division , best buy our ground before speculating on neighbouring land. etc.etc.

Tommy Trinder had a number of critics as chairman but I think he did well to keep the club in the public eye and to keep us afloat on a shoe string budget. His great achievement of course was to keep Haynes at Fulham for his whole career.

You say shoestring budget but 40,000 crowds were common back then. Where did the money go? Not just at Fulham but all clubs, many of which drew far bigger attendances than us

[filham]

I think I am right in saying that in the times we are talking about Fulham FC didn't own the Cottage but leased the ground from the Church of England,
Not buying the woodyard looks like a golden opportunity missed but you really have to try to put yourself in T.T.'s shoes at the time, can you imagine the fans reaction in those days when we really had to watch the pennies.
. Why waste money on an old timber yard when us fans have not even got shelter from the rain, the money would have been better spent on a new centre forward that may have taken us into the 1st Division , best buy our ground before speculating on neighbouring land. etc.etc.

Tommy Trinder had a number of critics as chairman but I think he did well to keep the club in the public eye and to keep us afloat on a shoe string budget. His great achievement of course was to keep Haynes at Fulham for his whole career.

You say shoestring budget but 40,000 crowds were common back then. Where did the money go? Not just at Fulham but all clubs, many of which drew far bigger attendances than us

Our regular gate was well below 40,000 and remember we were paying less than a couple of bob  (10p) to stand on the terraces. No way were we a rich club able to speculate in land purchases. To survive we relied on the sale of our best players to the likes of Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal who ruled the roost in London.

[Stoneleigh Loyalist]

My father was Mayor of Fulham 1958/59 and as a teenager I sat with him in the Directors Box for eVery game if the 1958/59 promotion season. Things were so different the with half time refreshments from an urn in a small room under the Johnny Haynes Stand with a choice of fairy cakes on a plate.
This was not big time finance and cannot be compared with the way that the game is run today.
At the end of that season there was a reception at the Fulham Town and the board met with the Mayor and Council representatives to make the arrangements. I remember my Dad's frustration at the attitude of Trinder towards the whole thing and his apparent lack of interest in the plans.
Nothing that he was reported as having done would surprise me.

[bill taylors apprentice]

My Dad worked back stage at live shows that Trinder performed in and the word was, he was a tightfisted. nasty piece of work and the happy chappy face was a facade.

[Holders]

I remember the woodyard becoming vacant but didn't realise that it was offered to us. Without giving it a thought, I just assumed that it would be too expensive for us as we weren't a rich club at that time, even though its potential use was obvious. It was used for parking for a bit. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I don't think one needed much foresight to see the potential use of that yard. I think it would just have been too expensive.  Besides, when the original Riverside stand was put up a lot of fans complained that the money should have been spent on players.

[Colton F.C.]

No doubt Ernie Clay and David Bulstrode would have found a good use for the site had Trinder stepped in and bought.

[bobbo]

I think I am right in saying that in the times we are talking about Fulham FC didn't own the Cottage but leased the ground from the Church of England,
Not buying the woodyard looks like a golden opportunity missed but you really have to try to put yourself in T.T.'s shoes at the time, can you imagine the fans reaction in those days when we really had to watch the pennies.
. Why waste money on an old timber yard when us fans have not even got shelter from the rain, the money would have been better spent on a new centre forward that may have taken us into the 1st Division , best buy our ground before speculating on neighbouring land. etc.etc.

Tommy Trinder had a number of critics as chairman but I think he did well to keep the club in the public eye and to keep us afloat on a shoe string budget. His great achievement of course was to keep Haynes at Fulham for his whole career.

absolutely right.




You say shoestring budget but 40,000 crowds were common back then. Where did the money go? Not just at Fulham but all clubs, many of which drew far bigger attendances than us

Our regular gate was well below 40,000 and remember we were paying less than a couple of bob  (10p) to stand on the terraces. No way were we a rich club able to speculate in land purchases. To survive we relied on the sale of our best players to the likes of Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal who ruled the roost in London.

[Woodlawn]

Tommy Trinder was well known for being tight fisted,A story I heard was although he owned property both in uk and Australia he never put much money into the club ,he was renowned for reversing to phone calls to Fulham wherever he was in the world.Blakes Wharf would have been a great asset for the club

[filham]

No doubt Ernie Clay and David Bulstrode would have found a good use for the site had Trinder stepped in and bought.

That is a thought, coupled with the woodyard the Cottage site would have doubled in value as a property development project and Clay and Bulstrode would probably have been in there much quicker and got things moving well before Jimmy Hill and his team had got their act together.

[ron]

Ah well, a case of what wood have been..... but it does no good to pine over a deal that never happened...

The possibilities were plane(?) to see, but Trinder never saw them...

[filham]

Ah well, a case of what wood have been..... but it does no good to pine over a deal that never happened...

There will be those that will say Trinder couldn't see the would be for the Fees or that spending that amount would have gone against the grain.

Yes, I am missing watching Fulham, it effects individuals in different ways.

[Cambridge Pete]

Ancient history. The future is what matters.