After all the upheaval of the last few days it might be a bit of a relief to get back to some football. Our visit to Fulham is tomorrow night, with a 7.45 kick-off, and if you can’t get down to London there is always the beamback at Elland Road.

As you probably know, Craven Cottage is by the Thames in South-West London. By road you need to take junction 15 off the M25 onto the M4, which becomes the A4. Keep following the A4 signs for 11.5 miles till you get to the Hammersmith Flyover Junction, then take the exit marked A306, A315, A219. From the following roundabout follow signs to Putney Bridge, which will bring you into Fulham Palace Road.

You are now just over a mile from the ground and from here you might as well think about parking in the first spot you see, parking on the streets near to the ground is restricted to one hour 'pay & display' on matchdays, even in the evening, and this is strictly enforced by an army of traffic wardens. It’s probably less hassle to park at a tube station further out and complete your journey by underground.

The nearest tube station to Craven Cottage is Putney Bridge (on the Wimbledon Branch of the District Line) which is only a ten minute walk away, Turn left out of the station and then immediately turn right into a street called Ranelagh Gardens, then just keep going in this direction, keeping the Thames on your left as you cross the main road and go through Bishops Park.

En route you will pass the 'Eight Bells' which is popular with away fans, and alternative is ‘The Temperance’ which you’ll a few minutes walk further along Fulham High street, going away from the river. 'The Crabtree on Rainville Road (10 minutes from the ground) welcomes away supporters, but diehard CAMRA enthusiasts will probably head for 'The Bricklayer's Arms', in Waterman Street, just the other side of the river in Putney.

There is also a selection of alcohol available inside the stadium, which even includes cans of Tetleys! The High Street is also the best bet for takeaways, which you might need to use, as the food inside the ground is expensive, though quite tasty and with generous portions.

When I first came to ‘the Cottage’ in the 1980s there was terracing at both ends, with the one for visitors naturally being open to the elements, but in the years since the club have had to comply with the Taylor report by replacing them with new stands. And the away fans are still in the same place today, with our allocation being about 2,700 seats in the Putney End, out of a total stadium capacity of 25,678.

One disappointing feature in a stand built only a decade ago is the number of supporting pillars that partially block the view from the away seats, but at least we now get a roof. Next to us is a section which is designated as ‘neutral’, so fans of both clubs can mix, and surprisingly it seems that still applies for this game, so it could be worth a try if you haven’t got a ticket in the Leeds end. The Fulham website says that “all other stands are open to Fulham supporters only.”

To our right is the building known as the ‘Cottage’, which thankfully has survived amongst all this modernity as a reminder of an earlier age. But technically this is just a pavilion, as the original cottage was demolished many years ago.

Unusually for a Leeds game it’s been classified as ‘Category B’, with adults at £25, Over 65's/Under 22's £20 and Under 17's £15, though there are also a number of 'restricted view' tickets at a discount of £2 discount on the above price. Fulham are another club to add a ridiculous £5 to the price of tickets sold on the day, which isn’t exactly the way to attract casual supporters.

As the future is concerned, the Club have now received planning permission to redevelop the Riverside Stand (the one to our left, which dates back to 1972). This would increase the capacity of Craven Cottage to 30,000, but no firm time scales have been announced as to when this will take place, so it’s likely this will have to wait until Fulham get back into the Premier League.

Some of this rubbish came from www.footballgroundguide.com

Photo: Action Images

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