The Tanner Report / Evening Standard Fulham Supplement 1970
In 1970 the Evening Standard produced a soccer supplement on all the London Clubs. It came out on a Saturday round 1 PM and cost one old shilling ( 5p). I recall waiting at the newspaper kiosk expectantly. In them days you had nothing like the saturation coverage of today as there was no Internet. The Evening Standard and Evening News were therefore important outlets of information.
The Supplement was a series of interviews and features on Fulham and even now a treasure trove of information. More than that it reflected a different age. An age when according to an esteemed writer on London football ,Dennis Signy, Fulham would debate the value of an end of season bonus to players but shell out a grand on a hotel celebration for avoiding relegation.
Fulham had finally taken the drop in 1968 from the top flight after many near escapes. At the beginning of the first season in the second tier in the match programme of Bristol City the chairman comedian Tommy Trinder had stressed the club’s ambition to return to the top flight by not buying any second division flags to decorate the open Riverside terrace. They were right to exercise such prudence as we were relegated that season to the third division . In the supplement the club secretary Graham Hortop spoke of a new Riverside stand , still there now but its construction was nearly to bankrupt he club. It needed the election of Eric Miller to the board as he had a close relationship with the freeholders the Church Commissioners to sort it out. Miller was friendly with a Church Commissoiner Donald Collenette whose son was in my school class. Miller gave him 2 tickets for the Directors Box which a pal of mine and I used. In season 70-71 the decline was reveresed with a promotion from the third tier. It was an exciting side too playing 4-2-4 with the pace of Jimmy Conway and Les Barrett on each wing. We scored 81 goals that season , beat QPR in the League Cup before a crowd of over 31000 but narrowly missed out on being champions when Preston beat us 1-0 at the Cottage to claim the title.
Whne Fulham were relegated from the Premier they had a staff of 140. The 1970 club would not have have had more than 10: a manager, trainer, club secretary , receptionist and few secretaries . The only commercial revenue aside from ticket sales was from the Development Association who according to Graham Hortop contributed £110,000 in five years. These club secretaries like Bob Wall at Arsenal were powerful figures though the Board was more hands on. In his interview Hortop referred to keeping the players on first division contracts, this has been the breaking of many a relegated club from the Premier . Salaries have soared as SKY poured money into a game. In 1970 there was hardly any live football. The supplement advertised a Fulham cap, badge rosette, and key ring for a pound. Fulham may just had had their first club shop but replica shirts were a thing of the future.
There is an old saying,the more things change the more they stay the same… not in football.
