Craven Cottage’s Riverside Stand is some way off completion, the club’s official line being that it will be fully operational for the 2023-24 season, but it was for home fixtures such as Sunday’s against Manchester United that it was renovated.
The structure’s towering exoskeleton has been a feature of the Thames in south-west London since 2019. What the club’s owner, Shahid Khan, described, rather grandiosely, as a “real gamechanger for Fulham Football Club, our neighbourhood, and all of London” has become dotted with fans. Capacity has climbed close to 25,000. Supporters in the lower tier of the new stand have been joined by some in the wings of the upper tier, before that anticipated full launch. That many are paying £100 for the privilege of sitting there, OAPs paying full price, supporters under 17 at £70, amid a cost-of-living crisis caused unwelcome headlines.
