QuoteAccording to the Daily Mail in London, Jaguars owner Shad Khan is in negotiations to buy the Fulham soccer team, which competes in the English Premier League.
The report said Mohamed Al-Fayed “was on the verge†of selling the club after investing nearly $300 million U.S. over the last 16 years.
The reported sale price is nearly $200 million U.S.
Khan, who does Flex-N-Gate business overseas, has targeted London as an emphasis since taking over the Jaguars â€" the team has committed to playing one “home†game apiece for four years starting this October at Wembley Stadium.
http://m.jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/544821/ryan-ohalloran/2013-07-10/report-jaguars-owner-shad-khan-pursuing-londons-fulham (http://m.jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/544821/ryan-ohalloran/2013-07-10/report-jaguars-owner-shad-khan-pursuing-londons-fulham)
Haha - Maybe Londoners will start hearing "Fulham is moving to Jacksonville" rumors. It would be cool to get 2x games a year (here) though. Looks like direct flights to London out of JIA are in order soon.
Quote from: blizz01 on July 10, 2013, 11:31:21 AM
Haha - Maybe Londoners will start hearing "Fulham is moving to Jacksonville" rumors.
yep...like when Manchester United was rumored to be headed to Tampa ;)
Few things about Fulham for those that don't really follow soccer:
-They've been a huge club for American players in the EPL. Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, and Clint Dempsey all played there and did very well. Dempsey was even their star player for a couple seasons. Because of this most American soccer fans at least casually root for them...though with Dempsey gone that will probably wane.
-They play in one of the smaller stadiums in the EPL (maybe even the smallest) and are generally thought to have a wealthy fan base...much more so than a lot of other teams fans which are typically more working class.
-They are typically a mid level team, and usually over perform relative to their talent/spending. The lower and mid level EPL teams are getting much more competitive and spending more (due to a nice TV deal), so it may not be as easy to stay mid level as it was a few years ago....especially with a small stadium
Some famous Fulham fans:
Hugh Grant
Daniel Day-Lewis
Kylie Minogue
Pierce Brosnan
Benicio Del Toro
http://fulhamish.blogspot.com/2007/06/famous-fulham-fans.html
Get them all some Jag swag
Good summary, CityLife.
As a Fulham member, I can attest that American support has dropped off with Dempsey gone and most Cottagers (myself included) are still upset at him for the not-so-nice manner in which he left the club. I've heard some stellar abuse of American players and fans in the stands at Craven Cottage that I haven't heard elsewhere (even at Stamford Bridge), but it isn't representative of the whole fan base. Most of the frustration of supporting FFC comes from that inevitable period of underperformance that happens every season, no matter how promising the start, that puts us out of Europa play. (I'll leave the agonizing loss of the Europa final several seasons back in a class of misery by itself.) We've has a string of managers who make questionable decisions with the starting 11 and never spend to capacity during the transfer -- yet we are one of the teams in danger of running a foul of Financial Fair Play. In US terms: it's kind of like being a Cubs fan.
Fulham (SW6 postcode especially) is extremely wealthy now, but Fulham FC traditionally had a less affluent fan base. You'll see a more representative social class mix in Haynes and Hammy stands than the Riverside stands. You'll also see a crop of fans who just like footy and can't afford tickets a mile up Fulham Road at Stamford Bridge. Season seats at Craven have run well below those at the homes of London competitors, but prices have been rising--a season ticket increased £150 in two years.
Craven is a smaller stadium, but it's also partly Grade I historic, so they really can't touch the Haynes Stand and parts of Putney and Hammersmith stands. The Riverside Stands and riverwalk are getting an expansion this year which will add seats and bring the Cottage more in line with the bottom third of BPL stadia. Getting tickets to most Premiership matches is a Byzantine system of memberships, season ticket preferences, match loyalty point buy-ins, and other restrictions intended to keep tickets in the hands of actual supporters. Catching a down-ticket home game with no loyalty point buy-in is usually your only bet for getting a few seats together at a match unless you want to pay crazy prices for scalped tickets (usually on Dutch or Russian websites).
I hope this deal goes through, but that Khan takes a good look at what Fulham needs and values what's great about it now. It wasn't that long ago that Chelsea was just another mid/occasional upper level club in Fulham & Hammersmith that got a new owner with dreams of a global brand.
*Lily Allen is also a Fulham supporter. She and Hugh Grant both have a long history of traveling to even the most far-flung Europa matches and friendlies. When the statue of Michael Jackson went up outside the Cottage, many fans were hoping that Grant would find a way to make it disappear.