Is the Putney End key to improving the Craven Cottage atmosphere?

Sammy James considers whether the Putney End could address Marco Silva’s ongoing concerns about the atmosphere at Craven Cottage.

Marco Silva’s recent comments about the lacklustre atmosphere at Craven Cottage have reignited debates over how to improve it. The latest Fulham Supporters’ Trust notes revealed that Silva has asked Alistair Mackintosh to explore ways of fostering stronger vocal support from the start of matches.

While broader issues like ticket pricing and the club’s focus on one-off London tourists over loyal fans deserve attention, I’d like to focus on practical changes that could help. Pricing out loyal fans undoubtedly affects the atmosphere, but I doubt reducing ticket costs alone would transform the Cottage into an Anfield on a European night-esque cauldron.

Instead, I believe the Putney End offers realistic opportunities to enhance the match day experience.

A look back at past efforts

I’m far from the first person to suggest that making changes to this stand could yield some positive results. The club themselves made a half-baked attempt in 2014 to try and tempt some more ‘vocal’ supporters to re-locate in an effort to improve atmosphere during some of Fulham’s key relegation six pointers that campaign.

The Riverside reconstruction has clearly had an impact on Fulham’s appetite to make any wholesale changes, but with construction of that set to finish this summer (he says with baited breath), this feels like a perfect opportunity to make some tweaks that could have a lasting effect. Here are a few suggestions that I could potentially see working.

Move the away end

The away section of the Putney End has traditionally been on the right-side as you look at it since our return to the Cottage in 2004. In European competition, away fans had to be housed in the Johnny Haynes stand due to the fact UEFA would not allow away and home fans to share a mixed concourse. It would be interesting to see if this would still be necessary if Fulham did make Europe next season.

This arrangement made sense, as it allowed Fulham fans to greet the players from both sides of the tunnel while sparing VIPs on the Cottage balcony from inevitable taunts.

However, I wonder if a move might be inevitable and sensible due to the reconstruction of the Riverside. For the Spurs cup game last year, I bought tickets in the Riverside Upper in the final block at the Putney End. With the stand’s steep angle, it was notable just how much it felt like I was sitting in the away end.

With the club hoping to charge thousands of pounds for season tickets in this part of the stand, you do wonder whether the clientele will be very happy paying high money to listen to the opposition fans serenade them for 90 minutes every home game.

Moving the away end from one side of the Putney End to the other could potentially stop the new Riverside stand feeling like an extension of the away support.

Safe standing

Now, of course, this is quite a simple argument – I think many people reading this would love it if Fulham implemented some safe standing sections at Craven Cottage.

If it ever were introduced at the Hammersmith End, it’s something I’d support personally, but there has to be a recognition that it wouldn’t be universally popular. If you were to introduce it to the top half of the stand for example, it would certainly please a lot of people, but equally there would be plenty of people put out as they don’t want to stand for 90 minutes.

Forcing people to move their season tickets is always an emotive sore point because people build friendships and grow attached to their spot. The Hammersmith End in its current state is more than 20 years old and many people have had the same seat since the reconstruction. A major change, such as installing safe standing, would almost certainly ruffle some feathers.

In any case, it seems like it’s a moot point according to the latest Supporters Trust notes. With Darren Preston, Fulham’s COO confirming that “Fulham’s own plans have not progressed due to the prohibitive cost of installing safe standing at the Hammersmith End”. However, there was a chink of light as he always said “the Club may look at other areas of the ground”.

Now, I think it’s safe to assume that the Johnny Haynes and the Riverside are non-starters in this respect. The age and constraints of the JH stand surely makes it prohibitive, and I doubt that £3,000 per year clients in the Riverside would be very happy to have to stand after their Michelin-starred meal. 

That leaves the Putney End as the only feasible option. Also, this would comply with the SGSA rules on licensed standing that both home and away fans must have access to any safe standing at a ground. 

Singing section

Safe standing leads me to my next point, which is the so-called ‘singing section’ (for want of a much, much better name) at the Putney End.

It feels like most other stadia we visit have a section near to the away fans where there’s some vocal home fans. Sometimes, these sections are a bit tinpot (looking at you Arsenal), but ultimately they do work. 

Having one of these at the Cottage has been talked about for a long time, but for me, it’s always had one key problem. What would be the motivation for these ‘vocal’ fans to leave the comfort and familiarity of Hammersmith End?

One way of tempting fans to leave could be for the Putney End season tickets to be significantly cheaper than the Hammersmith End, but realistically are Fulham ever going to do that? Also, I don’t necessarily think that that there’s a direct correlation between cheap tickets and loud fans.

However, I think that a safe standing section in the Putney End would be a huge motivation factor for people to make the switch. And unlike cheaper tickets, I think it’s a safe assumption that fans who want to stand are probably likely to want to create an atmosphere.

If there was an away end swap AND safe standing introduced for the top half of the Putney End, I think it’s not inconceivable that a great vocally active section could be created.

It would mean that the Hammersmith End isn’t the only main singing stand and it would also make it slightly more difficult for away fans to create the majority of the noise. The section would also benefit from the fact that the Riverside has created a closed corner, which should help the acoustics.

Will it happen?

I understand that there are current Putney End season ticket holders who might not appreciate me suggesting wholesale changes to their stand and it slightly contradicts my earlier point that people do get attached to their particular seat.

As a Hammersmith End season ticket holder, I haven’t been in the Putney End for a while, but from people that I know that do have season tickets there, it doesn’t exactly sound like the stand is a great experience currently in terms of atmosphere. I’m happy to be corrected on this though if I’ve misunderstood.

There are also likely to be logistical problems with my suggestions that are difficult to know about without inside knowledge. I assume there is a reason why the concourse is still mixed between home and away fans, which sounds like an interesting experience to say the least. I also know that they’ve built a bar called ‘The Away Bar’ underneath where the away fans are, which suggests a movement isn’t on the cards.

I’m not holding my breath that Fulham will undertake any of these measures due to the simple fact that they will cost some money. The latest FST notes seemed to indicate very little appetite from the club to spend any cash on these kind of improvements.

However, I do honestly think that without making serious changes, the complaints from Marco and the jibes from visiting fans will continue. There’s only so much that flags, clappers and light shows can realistically achieve.