Meet The Teams of The EPL: West Ham United

October 16, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

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West Ham United Football Club is an English football club based in Upton Park, London Borough of Newham, East London. They have played their home matches at the Boleyn Ground stadium since 1904.

The club was founded as Thames Ironworks F.C. in 1895 and was later reformed, in 1900 as West Ham United. They initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the full Football League in 1919 and enjoyed their first top flight season in 1923, featuring in the first FA Cup Final to be held at Wembley that year against Bolton Wanderers. The club have won the FA Cup three times: in 1964, 1975 and 1980. They have also been runners-up twice, in 1923 and 2006.

In 1965, they won the European Cup Winners Cup, and in 1999 they won the Intertoto Cup. Their players are considered an important factor behind England’s triumph in the 1966 World Cup, as England’s captain at the time was West Ham’s Bobby Moore, and both goalscorers were West Ham players.

They also won the inaugural Football League War Cup in 1940. The club’s best final league position is third place in the 1985–86 (old) First Division.

West Ham currently compete in the Premier League, and finished in 9th position in the 2008–09 season. They have been members of the Premier League for all but three seasons since its creation in 1992, and their highest finish in the Premier League was 5th in 1998–99.

Meet The Teams of The EPL: Tottenhamhotspur

October 15, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

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Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, (pronounced /tɒʔnəmˈhɒtspɜr/), commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English professional football club based in Tottenham, North London which currently plays in the Premier League. The club’s home stadium is White Hart Lane.

Tottenham Hotspur were the first club in the 20th century to achieve the League and FA Cup Double, winning both competitions in the 1960–61 season. In 1963, Spurs became the first British club to win a major European trophy - the European Cup Winners’ Cup. In the 1970s, they won the Football League Cup on two occasions and were the inaugural winners of the UEFA Cup in 1972. In the 1980s, Spurs won several trophies: the FA Cup twice, FA Community Shield and the UEFA Cup 1983–84. In the 1990s, they won the FA Cup and the Football League Cup and in 2008, they beat Chelsea in the final of the Football League Cup. This victory means that Tottenham have won a trophy in each of the last six decades - an achievement only matched by Manchester United.

The club’s Latin motto is Audere est Facere (lit: “To Dare Is to Do”), and its emblem is a cockerel standing upon a football. The club has a long-standing rivalry with near neighbours Arsenal and matches between the two teams are known as the North London derby.

Meet The Teams of The EPL: Sunderland Spurs

October 14, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

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Sunderland Association Football Club (pronounced /ˈsʌndərlənd/) are a professional association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, that compete in the Premier League. Since their formation in 1879, they have won six First Division titles—in 1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, and 1936 (see Sunderland A.F.C. seasons).

Founded by schoolteacher James Allan, Sunderland moved towards professionalism and they were elected into The Football League in 1890. Sunderland performed well in the league, earning plaudits such as a “wonderfully fine team”,[2] and won their first FA Cup in 1937 with a 3–1 victory over Preston North End. However, their achievements petered out, and they were relegated in 1958. They had remained in the top league for 68 successive seasons, a record surpassed only by Arsenal. Sunderland’s only triumph after the Second World War was their second FA Cup in 1973, when they secured a 1–0 victory over Leeds United thanks to a goal scored by Ian Porterfield.

Sunderland play their home games in the Stadium of Light, an all-seater, having moved from Roker Park in 1997 for a stadium of higher capacity. The ground initially held 42,000 supporters, but that was increased to 49,000 after redevelopment in 2000. Sunderland have a long-standing rivalry with their neighbouring club Newcastle United, with whom they have contested the Tyne–Wear derby since 1898.

Meet The Teams of The EPL: Stoke City Potters

October 13, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

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Stoke City Football Club (pronounced /ˈstoʊk ˈsɪti/) is a football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Founded in 1863, Stoke is the oldest club in the Premier League, and thought to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts County.

Stoke play their home fixtures at the Britannia Stadium, a 28,000 all-seater stadium. The stadium was opened in 1997; prior to this date Stoke had played at the Victoria Ground, which had been their home ground since 1878 (a record of 119 years currently shared with Wolverhampton Wanderers). The club’s nickname is The Potters (after the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent) and their home kit is a red-and-white vertically striped shirt with white shorts and white socks.

Prior to their 2008 promotion, Stoke had not participated in top flight football since the 1984-85 season, in which they were relegated with a total of 17 points, a record low total for twenty-one years. Stoke’s first major trophy was won in the 1972 League Cup Final, when they beat Chelsea 2-1. The club have won the Football League Trophy on two occasions, firstly in 1992 and most recently in 2000.

Meet The Teams of The EPL: Portsmouth FC

October 12, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

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Portsmouth Football Club (pronounced /ˈpɔərtsməθ/) is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey,[1] sometimes called ‘The Blues’, with their fans known as ‘The Blue Army’. They play in the Premier League. They have played their home matches at Fratton Park since 1898.

The club is majority owned by the wealthy Al-Faraj family of Saudi-Arabia[2]

Portsmouth have won the FA Cup twice, most recently in 2008. Pompey’s main rivals are Southampton, though they are now separated by two divisions.

The club was founded in the back garden on 5 April 1898 at 12 High Street, Old Portsmouth, with John Brickwood, owner of the local Brickwoods Brewery as chairman, and Frank Brettell as the club’s first manager. The club joined the Southern League in 1899 and their first league match was played at Chatham Town on 2 September 1899 (a 1-0 victory)[3], followed three days later by the first match at Fratton Park, a friendly against local rivals Southampton, which was won 2–0, with goals from Dan Cunliffe (formerly with Liverpool) and Harold Clarke (formerly with Everton).[4] That first season was hugely successful, with the club winning 20 out of 28 league matches, earning them the runner-up spot in the league. 1910-11 saw Portsmouth relegated, but with the recruitment of Robert Brown as manager the team were promoted the next season.

Football was suspended during World War I, but following the resumption of matches Portsmouth won the Southern League for the second time. Continuing success saw them in the Third Division for the 1920-21 season. They finished 12th that year, but won the division in the 1923-24 season. The club continued to perform well in the Second Division, winning promotion by finishing 2nd in the 1926-27 season, gaining a record 9-1 win over Notts County along the way. Portsmouth’s debut season in the First Division was a struggle. The next season they continued to falter, losing 10-0 to Leicester City, still a club record defeat. However, despite their failings in the league, that season also saw Portsmouth reach the FA Cup final for the first time, which they lost to Bolton Wanderers. Portsmouth managed to survive relegation, and their fortunes began to change. The 1933-34 season saw Portsmouth again reach the FA Cup Final, beating Manchester United, Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City and Birmingham City on the way. The club was again defeated in the final, this time to Manchester City. Having established themselves in the top flight, the 1938-39 season saw Portsmouth reach their third FA Cup Final. This time the club managed to defeat the favourites, Wolves, convincingly 4-1. Bert Barlow and Jock Anderson scored whilst Cliff Parker scored twice (3rd and 4th) completed the famous victory. League football was again suspended due to World War II, meaning Pompey hold the unusual distinction of holding the FA Cup for the longest uninterrupted period as the trophy wasn’t contested again until the 1945-46 season.

[edit] Post War Pompey : 1946 - 1971

League football resumed for the 1946-47 campaign. In Pompey’s Golden Jubilee season of 1948-49, the club were tipped to be the first team of the 20th century to win the Football League and FA Cup double. However, Pompey crashed out of the FA Cup in the semi-final against Leicester City, but made up for it by claiming the league title in spectacular fashion. That season also saw a record attendance of 51,385, a club record which still stands to this day.

In 1956 Portsmouth played the first league game under floodlights against Newcastle United on the 22nd of February.

The club retained the title the following year, beating Aston Villa 5-1 on the last day of the season, and are thus one of only five English teams to have won back to back titles since World War II. Although the team finished third in 1954-55, subsequent seasons saw Portsmouth struggle and they were relegated to the Second Division in 1959.

Portsmouth went down to the Third Division in 1961 (the first former English League champion team to do so) but were promoted back to the Second Division at the first time of asking under the guidance of George Smith. Despite limited financial means, Smith maintained Portsmouth’s Second Division status throughout the sixties until moving upstairs to become General Manager in April 1970.

[edit] John Deacon and Pompey: 1972 - 1988

A cash injection, that accompanied the arrival of John Deacon as chairman in 1972, failed to improve Portsmouth’s league position. With Deacon unable to continue bankrolling the club on the same scale, Portsmouth were relegated to the Third Division in 1976.

In November 1976 the club found itself needing to raise £25,000 to pay off debts and so avoid bankruptcy. With players having to be sold to ease the club’s financial situation, and no money available for replacements, Portsmouth were forced to rely on an untried manager, Ian St John and inexperienced young players. Consequently, they were relegated to the Fourth Division in 1978.

Portsmouth were promoted back to Division Three in 1980, and in the 1982-83 season they won the Third Division championship, gaining promotion back to the Second Division. Under Alan Ball’s management, Portsmouth narrowly missed winning promotion to the First Division twice before finally succeeding in 1986-87. Unfortunately, by the middle of the 1987-88 season the club was again in grave financial trouble, and Portsmouth were relegated straight back to the Second Division. The summer of 1988 saw Deacon sell the club to London based businessman and former Queens Park Rangers Chairman, Jim Gregory.

[edit] Smith, Venables and Mandarić: 1991 - 2001

Jim Smith’s arrival as manager at the start of the 1991-92 season, combined with the emergence of some good young players, sparked a revival in the team’s fortunes and that year Portsmouth reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, losing on penalties to eventual winners Liverpool after a replay. Portsmouth missed out on promotion to the FA Premier League only by virtue of having scored one less goal than West Ham United.

In the summer of 1996 Terry Venables arrived at Portsmouth as a consultant, later taking over as chairman after buying the club for £1. The team enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1996-97, beating FA Premier League side Leeds United en route, but finished just short of the qualifying places for the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League.

Portsmouth’s centenary season, 1998-99, saw a serious financial crisis hit the club, and in December 1998 Portsmouth went into financial administration. Milan Mandarić saved the club with a takeover deal in May 1999, and the new chairman immediately started investing. However the club only survived on the last day of the 2000-2001 season when they won their final game and Huddersfield Town lost theirs, keeping Portsmouth up at their expense.

[edit] Redknapp era: 2002 - 2008

Harry Redknapp took over as manager in early 2002, with Jim Smith returning to the club as assistant manager. Redknapp was able to make the most of Mandarić’s willingness to invest in players at a time when competitors were struggling after the collapse of ITV Digital’s television deal with the Football League. Just over a year later, Portsmouth were celebrating winning the Division One Championship and promotion to the Premier League, winning the title with a game to spare.[5]

The club finished 13th, 16th and 17th in its first three Premier League seasons. Redknapp had resigned midway through the club’s second Premier League season, after a disagreement with Mandaric, and went on to manage bitter rivals Southampton, only to return just over a year later. In January 2006 Portsmouth was bought by businessman Alexandre Gaydamak and, with large amounts of money available for the manager to make record signings, the club finished the 2006-07 season in the top half of the table for the first time, only one point short of European qualification.

The 2007-08 season started with Portsmouth beating Liverpool 4-2 on penalties to win the Barclays Asia Trophy after a goalless draw, with Pompey goalkeeper David James saving penalties from Yossi Benayoun and Fernando Torres. It wasn’t to be the club’s only success that season as, in 2008, Portsmouth reached the FA Cup Final for the first time since 1939. They had eliminated Manchester United at Old Trafford in the quarter finals and the following day became the only Premier League team left in the cup, following Cardiff’s surprise win over Middlesbrough. Portsmouth immediately became favourites to win the cup; in a season noted for the scalping of favourites. They beat Championship side West Bromwich Albion 1-0 on 5 April at Wembley Stadium in the semi-finals, the same day that the club celebrated its 110th birthday. Portsmouth went on to win the cup with a 1-0 win against Championship team Cardiff City. The win earned them a place in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup, the club’s first time playing European football. Their first UEFA Cup match resulted in a historic 2-0 victory over Vitoria Guimaraes and went on to win the aggregate (4-2). This put Portsmouth in the group stages for the first time in its history.

[edit] Adams, Hart and Arabs: 2008 - present

On 25 October 2008, Redknapp left Portsmouth for a second time, this time to join Tottenham Hotspur as their new manager, replacing Juande Ramos. Following his departure, Redknapp’s assistant Tony Adams was promoted to the managerial role.

Adams’ official tenure began with a 0-1 defeat to Liverpool on 29 October 2008. On 27 November, Portsmouth managed a historic result against Italian giants AC Milan, going 2-0 up during the game and finishing at 2-2. However, results and performances of this ilk did not continue, and the FA Cup Holders bowed out of the 2009 competition at the 4th Round stage with a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Championship side Swansea City. Striker Jermain Defoe and midfielder Lassana Diarra departed in the January transfer window making things more difficult for Adams. Rumours of Adams’ dismissal began circulating on 8 February 2009[6] and this was confirmed by the club on 9 February 2009 [7] Youth team coach Paul Hart took over as manager until the end of the season, with Brian Kidd assisting him, and oversaw an upturn in form that resulted in Portsmouth being guaranteed Premier League safety on 16 May; the club were not in action themselves that day, but Newcastle’s defeat by Fulham made Portsmouth mathematically safe with two games remaining. Portsmouth finished the 2008-09 season in 14th place.

On 26 May 2009, Portsmouth accepted a bid from United Arab Emirates businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim to buy the club following negotiations led by Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie on behalf of club owner Alexandre Gaydamak.[8] A statement released by the club read “Portsmouth Football Club can confirm that it has accepted an offer from Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim to buy the club, and has been completed” “Executive chairman Peter Storrie concluded the deal with Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim in Rome on Tuesday night the 26 May”.

Because of the financial problems suffered by the club, Portsmouth were forced to sell several of their top players and earners including Peter Crouch, Sylvain Distin, Niko Kranjčar and Glen Johnson.

On 21 July, Al Fahim was appointed Non executive Chairman of Portsmouth. On Wednesday 19 August the official Portsmouth website announced that a rival consortium headed by current CEO Peter Storrie had also made a bid for the club; unknown at the time, this was backed by Ali al-Faraj. Despite this, Al Fahim completed the takeover on 26 August; Al Faraj moved to review a takeover of West Ham United.

As the early stages of the 2009/10 season progressed the finances dried up and the club admitted on 1 October that some of their players and staff had not been paid. On 3 October, media outlets started to report that a deal was nearing completion for Ali al-Faraj to take control of the club. On Monday 5 October, a deal was agreed for al Faraj and his associates via British Virgin Islands registered company Falcondrone to hold a 90% majority holding, with Al-Fahim retaining 10% stake and the title of non-executive Chairman for two years.[9][10][11] Falcondrone also agreed a deal with Gaydamak the right to buy, for £1, Miland Development (2004) Ltd, which owns various strategic pockets of land around the ground, once refinancing is complete.[12]

2 days after the al-Faraj takeover was completed Portsmouth’s former Technical Director Avram Grant returned as Director of football. [13]

Meet The Teams of The EPL: Manchester United

October 8, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

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Manchester United Football Club is an English football club, based at Old Trafford in Trafford, Greater Manchester, and is one of the most popular football clubs in the world. The club was a founding member of the Premier League in 1992, and has played in the top division of English football since 1938, with the exception of the 1974–75 season. Average attendances at the club have been higher than any other team in English football for all but six seasons since 1964–65.[3]

Manchester United are the reigning English champions and Club World Cup holders, having won the 2008–09 Premier League and the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup. The club is one of the most successful in the history of English football and has won 22 major honours since Alex Ferguson became manager in November 1986. In 1968, they became the first English club to win the European Cup, beating Benfica 4–1. They won a second European Cup as part of a Treble in 1999, before winning their third in 2008. The club holds the joint record for the most English league titles with 18 and also holds the record for the most FA Cup wins with 11.There official youtube channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/hbk281923 [4]

Since the late 1990s, the club has been one of the richest in the world with the highest revenue of any football club,[5] and is currently ranked as the richest and most valuable club in any sport, with an estimated value of around £1.136 billion (1.319 billion / $1.870 billion) as of April 2009.[6] Manchester United was a founding member of the now defunct G-14 group of Europe’s leading football clubs,[7] and its replacement, the European Club Association.[8]

Alex Ferguson has been manager of the club since 6 November 1986, joining from Aberdeen after the departure of Ron Atkinson.[9] The current club captain is Gary Neville, who succeeded Roy Keane in November 2005.[10]


Meet The Teams of The EPL: Manchester City

October 6, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

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Manchester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in the city of Manchester. They are currently members of the Premier League.

The first known competitive fixture was played in November 1880, when the side was known as St. Mark’s (West Gorton), they then became Ardwick A.F.C. in 1887 before changing their name to Manchester City F.C. in 1894. The club has won the League Championship twice, the FA Cup four times, the League Cup twice and the European Cup Winners’ Cup once. The club’s most successful period was during the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they won several major trophies under the management team of Joe Mercer and his assistant Malcolm Allison with players such as Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee.

Since winning the League Cup in 1976, the club has failed to win any major honours. The club’s decline led to relegation twice in three years in the 1990s, spending the 1998–99 season in the third tier of English football. The club has since regained top flight status, the level at which they have spent the majority of their history. Manchester City is now believed to be the wealthiest football club in the world after its purchase by the Abu Dhabi United Group in September 2008.[2]


Meet The Teams of The EPL: Liverpool FC

October 2, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

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Liverpool Football Club (pronounced /ˈlɪvərˌpul/) is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club plays in the Premier League, and has won more trophies than any other English club. Liverpool has won a joint-record eighteen league titles,[1] seven FA Cups, seven League Cups, and the European Cup five times, a record for an English club.

The club was founded in 1892 when a dispute between Everton F.C. and the landlord of their Anfield stadium saw Everton relocate to Goodison Park and the old stadium become vacant. They joined the Football League soon afterwards and within a few years were a strong force in English football, winning five league championships between 1900 and 1947. However, Liverpool slipped into the Football League Second Division in the 1950s, and did not win promotion again until 1962, three years after the appointment of Bill Shankly as manager. They were First Division champions for the sixth time in 1964 - just two years after promotion.

The club traditionally played in red and white, but this was changed to all red in the 1960s.

Under Shankly’s management, Liverpool won three League Championship titles, two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup; the club’s first European trophy. He retired in 1974 at the end of the season that brought them an FA Cup triumph, to be succeeded by coach Bob Paisley, who set a new record of winning 13 major tropies between then and his retirement in 1983 - including three European Cups.

In the past 30 years, they have been one of the most successful clubs in English and European football; they won four European Cups between 1977 and 1984.

The Heysel Stadium disaster made the club infamous in Europe; 39 Juventus fans died after a wall collapsed as they fled from charging Liverpool fans. The club was involved in another disaster four years later—the Hillsborough Disaster— which saw the death of 96 Liverpool fans in a crush against perimeter fencing. Flames were added to the club’s crest in honour of the Liverpool fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough. Both disasters have had wide-ranging impacts on English and European football, and the club, to this day.

Liverpool remained highly successful to the end of the 1980s. Despite being banned from European competitions for six years after the tragedy at Heysel, Liverpool dominated the domestic scene under player-manager Kenny Dalglish who succeeded Joe Fagan in 1985. They joined the elite of clubs to have won the double of the league title and FA Cup in 1986, gained two further league titles in 1988 and again in 1990, and also won their fourth FA Cup in 1989.

The 1990s was a relatively unsuccessful decade by Liverpool standards. The 1990 league title was their most recent top division title to date, although they did win the FA Cup in 1992 and a record fifth League Cup in 1995, they never finished higher than third place after 1991 and in 1994 finished as low as eighth.

However, the 2000s has seen an upturn in fortunes for the club. They won three trophies in 2001 (the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup), finished second in the league in 2002 after 11 years outside the top two and won their seventh League Cup in 2003 under the management of Frenchman Gerard Houllier, who had been appointed in 1998. Houllier was succeeded by Rafael Benitez in 2004, and in his first season they won their fifth European Cup. Since then they have also won their seventh FA Cup as well as achieving another second place finish in the league. In spite of these success, they have still yet to win the league title since 1990.

Liverpool F.C. has played at Anfield since its formation, but plans to move to a new stadium in Stanley Park, which was due to be completed by 2011 but has been put on hold until economic conditions improve. Liverpool has a large and diverse fan base, which holds long-standing rivalries with several clubs. The most notable of these are their rivalries with Manchester United and Everton, with whom they contest the Merseyside derby.


Meet The Teams of The EPL: Hull City

October 1, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

Hull City Association Football Club (pronounced /ˈhʌl ˈsɪti/) is an English football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. In 2007–08 they achieved promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history, by winning the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium. They finished the 2008–09 season 17th in the Premier League table, successfully avoiding relegation by one point. The previous highest position Hull City had finished in the English Football League was third in the old second division in 1909–10, which they matched in 2007–08 when they gained promotion. Their greatest achievement in cup competitions came in 1930, when the team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Hull play their home games at the KC Stadium. They previously played at Boothferry Park, but moved to their current home in 2002, with Boothferry Park set for demolition. They traditionally play in black and amber, often with a striped shirt design, hence their nickname of The Tigers. The club’s mascot is Roary the Tiger.hullcity


Meet The Teams of The EPL: Fulham FC

September 28, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

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Fulham Football Club (pronounced /ˈfʊləm/) is an English professional football club based in Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they celebrated their 125th anniversary in 2004, and they are in the top tier of English football, the Premier League. Fulham are the oldest professional football team in London, usually considered to have been founded in 1879 (though the semi-professional Cray Wanderers F.C. are the oldest team in London still in existence).[2]

They spent much time in the old First Division through the 1960s, but are yet to gain any major honours. In 1975, as a Second Division team, they contested the FA Cup final for the only time in their history, losing 2–0 to West Ham United. Fulham qualified for the UEFA Cup in 2002 by winning the Intertoto Cup, beating Bologna 5–3 in the final over two legs. In the UEFA Cup, they won through two rounds before being defeated by Hertha Berlin. In the mid-1990s they had a brief spell in the former Fourth Division, but within less than a decade, they advanced into the top flight. No doubt their new millionaire chairman, Mohamed Al-Fayed played a crucial role. In 2009, Fulham had their highest-ever finish in the top-flight, coming 7th to qualify for Europe once again.

The club has produced many British greats including Johnny Haynes, George Cohen, Bobby Robson, George Best, Rodney Marsh, Alan Mullery and Bobby Moore. They play at the historic Craven Cottage, their famous home since 1896, a riverside ground on the banks of the River Thames in Fulham, having spent two years at Loftus Road while Craven Cottage was undergoing renovations to bring it up to Premier League standards. The club’s training ground is located near Motspur Park (and was where Chariots of Fire among others was filmed), where Fulham’s Academy is also situated, including a mini-stadium where the reserves play.


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