When is it time for more protest action?

With away fans in home ends given the all clear and Brentford tickets given away, what can we do as fans?

In the space of a week Fulham Football Club have managed to find two more ways to alienate their hardcore support.

First it was giving away tickets to what could be the biggest game of the season to fun-runners, then it was openly admitting ambivalence to away fans sitting in the home ends.

While the fury from the Brentford ticket scandal comes from a failure to communicate to supporters that the tickets given to runners were sourced from an allocation separate to that on sale to fans — likely reserved for the players’ families and friends — the club’s comments on their position on away fans in home areas should have any self-respecting Fulham foaming at the mouth.

When questioned about the club’s stance on away supporters wearing full colours in home areas, during the club’s monthly meeting with the Fulham Supporters’ Trust (FST), Fulham’s head of safety said: ‘’If an away supporter’s presence has a negative effect, then we will intervene. If there is not a negative effect then we will not.’’

To put it simply, that is Fulham’s head of safety admitting they do not mind other supporters being in the home end unless they overtly show signs of being the other teams supporters before entering Craven Cottage.

If you wanted any further proof that the club is completely out of touch with its supporters, this is it.

The people in charge at Fulham, and the people in charge of safety I may add, do not understand that the tribalistic nature of football fans, that even Fulham fans will cause people to get hurt if the club’s stance on away fans in home areas is do nothing until they make themselves known.

Not only is the club’s stance a mockery of Fulham fans, it’s dangerous.

To get some clarification on if Fulham stood behind their comments to the FST, I asked the club two questions: ‘’Does the club echo this statement and could it re-iterate what its stance on away fans in home areas is?’’ And ‘’What does the club expect supporters to do when faced with away fans in home areas?’’

Fulham responded with: ‘’Regarding the notes from the recent meeting of the FST – details of the minutes were published by the Fulham Supporters Trust at a recent meeting with the club.’’

It’s hardly much of a response is it? Once again, a failure from FFC to communicate with their supporters. No surprises there.

There is no other club in the Premier League that treats their fans like Fulham does.

Whether it be calling us “the local football team”, rising matchday ticket prices to extortionate levels, or not caring who is in the seat next to you as long as somebody is sat in it, what does it take for Fulham fans to make a real stand against being treated as second-class citizens in our own home?

I asked the FST if they would back protest action in response to the club’s actions.

A FST spokesperson said: ‘’We are consistently taking member issues to the club, and we believe we have made some progress over the last couple of years but there is still work to be done.

The club have indicated that season ticket prices for next season will be announced in late April, early May in line with previous years. That will be the time to consider if further action is required.’’

Perhaps the FST is right, maybe waiting for the club to announce season ticket prices is the right time to take action. But forgetting the increases in prices, it is the failure to even try to understand the hardcore Hammersmith-Ender and instead catering to the family of Riverside tourists that infuriates me, and these comments exemplify that, and unfortunately even freezing season ticket prices won’t shake that feeling.

At the very least Fulham fans, it’s time to lay the groundwork for some proper protest action. Otherwise more and more of this nonsense will go unchecked.