Football clubs don’t much like independent fan outlets. But it’s grimly reassuring that this isn’t a ‘modern football’ problem, despite the manufactured nature of club comms today.
When David Lloyd, alongside fellow FFC fan David Preston, launched independent fan magazine ‘There’s Only One F In Fulham’ in 1988, it didn’t please then-chairman Jimmy Hill.
“I admire your enthusiasm […] but selfishly wonder whether the time and trouble might be spent on cold-blooded mercenary ways of keeping Fulham Football Club alive”, our robust-chinned leader wrote to the pair.
But undeterred, Lloyd (Preston ducked out after half-a-dozen issues - “he wanted a life, effectively!”) went on to create a lynchpin of Fulham fan culture. For 30 years, TOOFIF was the original independent voice of Fulham fans.
“You’ve got to remember that this was in the dark ages!” Lloyd tells me with a laugh. “We didn't have the internet; we didn't have the immediacy of news, sports, news, or whatever we've got blasted at us today.
“There were a few fanzines making their mark - like The City Gent from Bradford and one or two others. We were trying to do something like Private Eye, where we would be serious when we needed to be, but effectively take the mickey out of haircuts and silly clothes and habits of footballers and just have a laugh. But we didn’t know what was just around the corner…”
Not long after TOOFIF’s first issue, the future of Craven Cottage hung in the balance - not for the first time, and sadly not for the last.
The club was involved in a long-running tug of war with property developers Cabra Estates, who owned the ground after former chairman Ernie Clay sold it in the mid-eighties. The local council tried to wrestle it back via a compulsory purchase order (CPO), but on the eve of the public inquiry to determine the Cottage’s fate, Fulham’s board had agreed to leave in exchange for a few million quid (they claimed they couldn’t afford to lose the CPO inquiry, so took the cash to preserve the club’s future).
A quirk in the deal meant the club couldn’t talk about the process via their official channels, leaving TOOFIF as a vital resource for fans wondering what on earth was happening.
“As an independent publication, we were the conduit to the fans,” Lloyd recalls. “And so suddenly this rather jokey publication became very, very serious. But we were able to relay to the fans as best as we could exactly what was going on.
“But I want to stress there were so many Fulham fans during that time who - officially or otherwise, for example on the supporters’ club committee - did so much. And I did my bit.”
The future of the Cottage was eventually secured, of course, thanks to fan mobilisation and the Fulham 2000 initiative, and TOOFIF continued to provide a voice for the Fulham Faithful. In a game of opinions, Lloyd maintains that perspective was key when creating an engaging publication.
“I kept my powder dry; this wasn't a policy as such, but I tried to keep my editorials personal, yet informed and professional. Either way, people would come around and tell me if they agreed - or otherwise - in blunt terms, as football fans do!”
Throughout the nineties, TOOFIF was a central thread in the fabric of Fulham fandom. From toiling in the doldrums at the foot of the Football League to the most magical of seasons under Micky Adams and our rise to the Premier League, the fanzine offered an authentic and light-hearted view of the club we love, and provided a voice for supporters in an era when there weren’t many ways to have yours heard.
Growing up, a core matchday memory would be standing outside the turnstiles to the Hammersmith End before a game as my Dad - like so many other Fulham fans - approached David Lloyd to chat about all things Fulham as he stood there with boxes upon boxes of TOOFIF, selling them to punters on their way into the ground.
“It certainly became ritualistic,” he remembers. “At first, you could park right outside the ground. But gradually, as the parking became more and more difficult, you'd be parking a mile away and have to trolley these things in.
“And then you’d be subject to the elements. Some oldies might remember the League Cup game with Liverpool when we had about 13,000 - our biggest crowd for years. Well, I printed extra issues. I thought, because I was losing money hand over fist, I might make some money back, But I had to pulp the whole lot because we had continuous rain and water got in through the boxes! I probably lost about £1,500 just on that night alone. I'm not complaining – it goes with the territory! TOOFIF hasn't made me rich. What it has done is given me loads of friendships.”
Lloyd now enjoys the Whites purely as a fan, having released the fantastic 30 years of TOOFIF collection in 2018. That perspective that served him so well in his editorials is evident when assessing the current state of affairs.
“Of course, nowadays the club has changed. Last season really showed it with the record points total; you could argue that we could or should have done a wee bit better, points wise, because we threw so many away, but it’s a million miles away from what Fulham Football Club has been.
“We had Paul Johnson and his wonderful ‘We can dream’ cartoons – goodness me, some of those weren’t far short of what we’ve managed to achieve! Yes, we've had hiccups along the way, but by golly we’ve had some fun.”
A fan’s relationship with their football club is a complex one, as David can attest to. But as long as there’s some fun along the way, you can’t go far wrong.
It was a truly brilliant publication, funny and imformative, the quality of writing and contributors was exceptional.
I always used to look forward to buying it outside the Hammersmith End, part of my matchday ritual.
As said in the article I was one of those who bought it instead of the Club programme, fantastic as the "digital" likes of Fulhamish are I still miss TOOFIF it to be honest, a one off reprisal, once a season, would sell very well imo.
That’s a blast from the past. Remember buying this at games I went to back in the day (mostly away from the Cottage) As an exile and pre internet times it was one of the limited places i could find out about FFC
I also remember buying a t shirt with that cartoon strip/character on it at one game. It became legendary in my class at College as they’d never seen a Fulham fan before let alone one not from London
A very belated thanks to all those involved with TOOFIF and if there’s any T Shirts left I’ll have one just for old times sake