Fulham capacity to be reduced to less than 20,000 during Riverside Stand redevelopment
Wednesday 12 December 2018 12:47, UK
Fulham will play in front of a reduced capacity of less than 20,000 when work begins on the new Riverside Stand at Craven Cottage.
The Premier League side are understood to want work to start in May 2019 and expect the project to be completed for the start of the 2021/22 season.
Fulham received planning permission for the £80m redevelopment nine months ago, but only appointed a contractor - Buckingham Group - on Monday.
Craven Cottage has a current capacity of 25,700 and it will increase to just under 30,000 when work is complete.
However, between 6,000 and 7,000 seats are likely to be unavailable once the project begins. Four thousand seats in the Riverside Stand will be affected, while some in other stands will be inaccessible for safety reasons.
Fulham are keen to remain at Craven Cottage during the building work, despite the impact on capacity, rather than move to a temporary home.
Loftus Road and Griffin Park - the current homes of nearby QPR and Brentford respectively - have been deemed to be too small, while a ground share at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea is seen as unrealistic.
While Fulham are understood to want to begin work in May and expect it to last two years, they are reluctant to commit to exact timescales in light of the criticism levelled at Tottenham for the repeated delaying of the opening of their new stadium.
