Craven Cottage plan approved

Fulham were today celebrating the granting of planning permission for a major redevelopment at Craven Cottage that will boost the capacity of the club’s historic ground to 30,000.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council has given the green light for the Riverside Stand, which backs on to the Thames, to be extended into a distinctive new facility that chief executive Alistair Mackintosh claims will go a long way towards satisfying owner Mohamed Fayed’s aim of making the Premier League side self-supporting.

For the past three seasons most of Fulham’s home games have been 25,700 sell-outs, and Mackintosh said: “This is extremely exciting news and we are all delighted. It is vital the club are given every opportunity to develop the facilities available to ensure that we can continue to prosper and compete, and remain at our home in the long term.

“I am confident that an increased capacity and major improvements to the facilities can help us deliver the chairman’s vision of long‑term growth and self-sustainability for this club.”