Page "Craven Cottage" Paragraph 25

On July 27th, 2012, Fulham FC were granted permission to redevelop the Riverside Stand, increasing the capacity of Craven Cottage to 30, 000 seats.

Beforehand various rumours arose including plans to return to ground-sharing with QPR in a new 40, 000 seater White City stadium, although these now appear firmly on hold with the construction of the Westfield shopping centre on the proposed site.

The board seem to have moved away from their grandiose ideas of making Fulham the " Manchester United of the south " as Al-Fayed has come to realise how expensive it is to subsidise a Premiership outfit.

Yet Fulham's comfortable Premier League table positions in the previous years and the fact that, for the previous three seasons the ground has been filled to capacity, means stadium expansion is a viable option.

With large spaces of land at a premium in south-west London, Fulham appear to be committed to a gradual increase of the ground's capacity often during the summer between seasons.

The capacity of Craven Cottage has been increased during summers for instance in 2008 with a small increase in the capacity of the Hammersmith End.

Fulham previously announced in 2007 that they are planning to increase the capacity of Craven Cottage by 4000 seats, but this is yet to be implemented.

There was also proposals for a bridge to span the Thames, for a redeveloped Riverside stand and a museum.