Muted protest as fear for Cottage grows

There was a small protest at Fulham's temporary ground, Loftus Road, last night, over plans that could see the west London side permanently leave their historic Craven Cottage stadium.

Fulham are in the first season of a ground-sharing arrangement with Queen's Park Rangers, but news emerged last week that the Fulham chairman and owner, Mohamed al Fayed, is prepared to abandon Craven Cottage for good, with no definite plans for a new stadium. The club left the Cottage last summer with plans to redevelop the ground, but it may now make way for luxury housing.

Before yesterday afternoon's match, which Fulham won 1-0, there was a small protest outside the main reception of Loftus Road, with two people holding a banner declaring: "Back to the Cottage". Fans were handing out yellow pamphlets, declaring "Take us home", before the game for everyone to hold up inside the ground during a match that had only a disappointing 14,000 attendance, which was below the average this season.

However, there was only a limited display from the home fans of those pamphlets during the game. There were also banners pinned up inside the stadium, stating: "Take us home or we die," and again "Back to the Cottage".

Fayed, writing in the match programme, did not clear up any of the questions about where Fulham's future stadium will be, merely stating: "On the one hand I have reiterated my pledge to make this club one of the best in Europe, yet on the other hand I have refused to commit millions to redevelop Craven Cottage."

He added: "We must tighten our belts and introduce a regime of prudent budgetary control... all the way from transfer fees, player salaries and stadium development."