The Fulham Supporters’ Trust is run on a voluntary basis by a board of Fulham supporters elected from its membership. The current board is drawn from a large number of industries and disciplines including business, politics, media, marketing, property, finance and the charitable sector. The broader Trust membership contains an even more diverse set of skills.
Any member of the FST is welcome to stand to become a board member when annual elections take place; the most recent election was in November 2023. At each of these elections one third of board places is made available. The current board is as follows:
Elected Board Members
| Ian Clarke | Simon Duke |
| Jerry Cope | Jakub Krupa |
| Sue Couch | Gavin Megaw |
| Hayley Davinson | Steve Nicholson |
| Tamara Dragadze |
Co-opted Board Members
The board is able to co-opt up to an additional five members for a one year term to support its work as necessary. We ask that co-opted board members seek election at the first available opportunity after co-option.
We currently have no co-opted board members.
Organisation
The board has five formal roles which are agreed periodically at board meetings and re-appointed after elections.
- Chair – Simon Duke
- Vice Chair – Ian Clarke
- Secretary – Steve Nicholson
- Membership Secretary – Jerry Cope
- Treasurer – Jerry Cope
Additionally, members of the board have areas of responsibility for which they take the lead in Trust activity. These were most recently agreed at the December 2022 board meeting and will be updated from time to time as necessary. Key liaison roles with external groups which require named individuals are as follows:
- Metropolitan Police Independent Advisory Group (IAG) – Sue Couch, Ian Clarke
- Hammersmith and Fulham Council Safety Advisory Group (SAG) – Gavin Megaw
- Football Supporters Association (FSA) – Simon Duke, Hayley Davinson.
You can read the additional responsibility areas of each board member in the profiles below.
Initial terms of office (one, two and three election cycles) were decided at the Ocotber 2019 board meeting by the drawing of lots. From 2020 onwards an election of one third of the board positions will take place each year in line with the elections policy.
Board Member Biographies
Simon Duke (Chair)
Fulham is in my DNA and I want to make sure that the family values established over time continue for generations to come. FST is the voice of the fans.
Still believe.
Elected until
AGM 2025
Areas of responsibility
FSA liaison
Ticketing
Riverside Stand
Day job
Recently retired after 42 years working for HSBC
Joined Trust Board when?
Elected July 2020
Why are you on the Trust board?
Having been a supporter for almost 60 years and recently retired I now have the time to give something back.
Why Fulham?
Its in my family DNA. We come from Putney originally and you are either Fulham or Chelsea. My immediate side of the family are all Fulham.
What’s most important to you about Fulham?
The club has played a huge part in my life and it is important to me that the values established over time and family oriented nature continue for generations to come.
First match
I cannot remember whom we played in my first game it was so long ago, but my Grandfather bought me a season ticket in the Stevenage Road (as was then) stand in 1962. I can still remember we were in Stand G, Row E seats 5 & 6.
Favourite ever player
There have been a many over the years (Haynes, Mullery, Moore, Saha, Mitrovic to name a few) but I will go for my first real hero, John Mitchell, whose 2 semi-final goals took us to our first Wembley appearance in 1975.
If I was a Fulham player I’d be
Danny Murphy – committed, organised and a true leader. What might be lacking in pace is made up for in vision and speed of thought.
On match days you can find me …
No set routine other than to come by train. I tend to either come straight to the ground and meet up with friends there or maybe meet up with someone in Fulham or Putney en route. My seat was in the Riverside Stand (W) but for now I am located in the Putney End (P3).
Best ever Fulham moment
I have only considered here games I attended. There have been a few, Carlisle away in 1975 when we got battered and came away with a 1-0 win, great train journey through the Lake District. Wembley 75, Basel away, Wolfsburg away, Juventus and Hamburg at home. I will however have to go for the 2018 play off final. It was a great day out and came at the end of the season in which my father passed away. I always attended games with him where possible. In his later years I used to make sure he could get to the cottage for every game and where the club were tremendous in making sure physically challenged supporters could still get to see matches. I’m sure he was watching and had some influence that day.
Worst ever Fulham moment
All relegations.
Ian Clarke (Vice Chair)
When the Trust was first established the future of the club at Craven Cottage was endangered. Fortunately, we’re now living in better times, but we should always be vigilant; that’s why I’ve remained a member of the Trust since its inception. Now that we’re back in the world of big TV deals and sponsorships we need to make sure the supporters aren’t forgotten.
Elected until
AGM 2024
Areas of responsibility
Ticketing
Riverside Stand
Web site
IAG (police liaison) representative
Day job
Business consultant, helping companies fix problems with their operations.
Skills
My day job is all about understanding how businesses work, asking difficult questions when necessary. I’d love to use my experience to help Fulham adopt a ‘supporter first’ attitude.
Joined Trust Board when?
I was part of the initial board of the Trust when it was formed in 2003 out of the BTTC movement. The moment Craven Cottage was under threat I wanted to be a part of the campaign to save it. I have remained a member ever since but was re-elected to the board in August 2018.
Why Fulham?
The Trust has made huge strides over the last decade and currently has a constructive relationship with the Club. I want to help strengthen that relationship to ensure that when decisions are made Craven Cottage and Fulham supporters come first.
Why are you a Fulham fan?
At my primary school you were either black and white or blue. I always had good taste so chose correctly and never looked back. Once I’d been to the Cottage, like most people, I fell in love with it and I couldn’t be dragged away, even though the football was often terrible. It didn’t take long before I had a season ticket and was a regular on the supporters’ coach (more often than not it was just one coach).
What’s most important to you about Fulham?
Craven Cottage and Fulham are synonymous. One without the other is unthinkable and there is no finer place to be than at the Cottage under the floodlights. There’s also something extra special about Fulham supporters. We may not be the most numerous or always the loudest, although we definitely have our moments, but I’m proud to be a Fulham fan.
First match
My Dad first took me in the late 1970s but unlike many fans I don’t really have a clear memory of my first match. The earliest I can remember is a 1980 defeat to Cambridge in the run-up to relegation. I doubt I realised how painful the next 15 years would become.
Favourite ever player
My hero was Gordon Davies and I don’t think he will ever be replaced as my favourite player. In recent years Brede Hangeland was an absolutely perfect fit for Fulham. The way he conducted himself on and off the pitch was exemplary.
If I was a Fulham player I’d be
Terry Angus. A wholehearted centre back with tons of enthusiam although perhaps not always the most skillful – a description that best sums up my very limited Sunday league career. I always loved the way Terry played with a smile on his face.
On match days you can find me …
… in the Crabtree before and after home matches where my season ticket is in the back row of H4. I travel to all the away matches too, usually by train.
Best ever Fulham moment
Of course Wembley was brilliant, but if I could wind back and relive just one Fulham moment in time it’s the pandemonium as Clint Dempsey’s chip hits the back of the Hammersmith End net to beat Juventus. I thought Craven Cottage could never be that loud, although Zoltan Gera versus Hamburg and Denis Odoi against Derby came pretty close.
Worst ever Fulham moment
There have just been too many of them. As a youngster it was every time I heard that the club and the ground were in danger of disappearing; I was inconsolable. The thought of Fulham Park Rangers still makes me shudder. On the pitch Swansea away in 1994 to confirm relegation to the bottom tier stands out for all the wrong reasons.
Jerry Cope (Treasurer, Membership Secretary)
It is critical to the future of football, a game I love, that Clubs and fans get closer together – I would love to help that a tiny bit.
Elected until
AGM 2026
Day job
I do a portfolio of quite a few things, maybe the main one is Chair of London South Bank University.
Skills
Negotiating, finance, analysis, sorting out problems.
Joined Trust Board when?
Co-opted December 2018.
Why are you on the Trust board?
To help bring the Club closer to its fans.
Why Fulham?
Grandfather’s influence.
What’s most important to you about Fulham?
The Cottage
First match
Sheffield United 21 Jan 1961 (lost 6-1!)
Favourite ever player
Simon Morgan because he pushed his limited talent as far as it could go, and went to visit my best football friend when he was dying.
If I was a Fulham player I’d be
Simon Morgan …because I have no football talent either.
On match days you can find me …
Picking my son up at Clapham Junction, perhaps stopping at the White Horse, before sitting in JH Stand.
Best ever Fulham moment
Beating Juventus in that evening game, closely followed by Denis’ headed goal.
Worst ever Fulham moment
That away game at Torquay.
Sue Couch
Supporters need a voice, particularly perhaps in the Premier League where the concerns of ordinary fans risk being lost in the machine of corporate sponsorship. I feel the Trust should represent the generations who have supported Fulham through thick and thin, and who still spend their wages and time demonstrating this commitment.
Elected until
AGM 2024
Areas of responsibility
IAG (police liaison) representative
Day job
Amongst other things I manage a subscriptions database of thousands, which gives me a little practice for when the FST membership grows that big.
Joined Trust Board when?
In November 2018. I have supported Fulham since 87/88, and I was almost immediately co-opted onto the Supporters Club committee as Press Officer after David Lloyd stepped down to concentrate on TOOFIF, and I was closely involved in the Fulham 2000 and Back to the Cottage campaigns. I am the only female on the board, and would love to feel I can represent the other women and girls who support Fulham as well. There are plenty of us, so please make your voices heard and contact me via the Trust. There’s room on the Board for at least one more of us too.
Why Fulham?
I am a Fulham fan because of having the pure good fortune of moving nearby with a football crazy six year old whose dad was a lifelong Fulham supporter. My dad was West Ham and I hadn’t really thought about football for years, but suddenly I got Fulham and Fulham got me. From the start I loved the humour of the (then) terraces and the generosity that our fans showed one another. I always felt safe, on my own or with my boy. Fulham seemed to attract the funnier, more self-deprecating, more thoughtful SW London fans and I’ve always seen that as strength rather than weakness. And we have enormous resilience – just don’t mistake our good nature for a lack of passion.
What’s most important to you about Fulham?
Memories, I think, and heritage and history. The memories of fans who have been supporting through all the ups and downs, taking care of our heritage for the future generations, and our memories of those who are no longer with us. These are integrally tied to Craven Cottage – Fulham should always play here in this ground on the banks of the Thames and our battles to preserve the Cottage have all been worthwhile. The FST is here because of those battles fought by fans, from fledgling spontaneous groups handing out leaflets in Fulham and Shepherds Bush, to the more organised committee-led FULHAM 2000 and BTTC. We owe everyone involved in those earlier campaigns a huge debt of thanks.
On match days you can find me …
I have a season ticket in H7. You can contact me via the Trust email address.
Best ever Fulham moment
Watching the players walk out at Old Trafford when we reached the Premier League under Jean Tigana – I cried. Seeing that giant Fulham flag on the pitch at Hamburg, before the game. I’ll be perfectly honest and say the result didn’t hurt me at all. The pinnacle was being there. And of course, Wembley last year.
Worst ever Fulham moment
Leaving the Cottage for Loftus Road and fearing that we’d never return.
Hayley Davinson
Elected until
AGM 2026
Areas of responsibility
Communications
Web site
Inclusion and diversity
FSA liaison
Day job
Marketing for a brand agency.
Skills
Marketing, events, anything that involves chatting.
Joined Trust Board when?
Co-opted in 2019 and then elected in September 2019.
Why are you on the Trust board?
Wanted to get a bigger female voice and help the FST in all the constructive work they do, particularly to improve things for all fans.
Why Fulham?
I asked my Dad why he took my brother and not me when I was 7, 1 game was all it took!
What’s most important to you about Fulham?
Craven Cottage & doing things the Fulhamish way
First match
Believe it was v Plymouth, it was a rare win in 1994 in a season that of course ended in relegation.
Favourite ever player
Has to be Geoff Horsfield. I really thought ’Horsfield for England’ was a possibility after that destruction of Spurs in the League Cup. Of course, Saha is the greatest I’ve witnessed.
If I was a Fulham player I’d be
Steve Sidwell. I have an instant afinity with any redheaded Fulham player.
On match days you can find me …
Back of H4, half time pint by the river & usually the Lion garden after.
Best ever Fulham moment
Has to be Juventus. I wish you could bottle that feeling.
Worst ever Fulham moment
Leaving my friends at Gatwick airport post Hamburg, getting on the train home and someone holding up the Evening Standard newspaper with the back pages being that we’d lost. I know it was about the journey, but that hurt.
Tamara Dragadze
For some time now I have been trying to get more women to football matches and the women’s team more visibility. I also have professional skills to work against racism and would like to see more people from all communities at Craven Cottage.
I am a senior citizen and as a grandmother I wish to see people of all generations on our terraces because then FFC lives up to its reputation as a family club.
Elected until
AGM 2024
Areas of responsibility
Inclusion and diversity
International supporters
Day job
Senior Consultant CECUK giftware trade with Eastern Europe.
Fellow Royal Anthropological Institute (present research on racism).
Writer.
Skills
Personal experience of viewing the football world through the eyes of a woman, senior citizen, social scientist and ethnic minority. When a University lecturer and researcher I had worked in ethnic conflict mediation.
Joined Trust Board when?
Elected in November 2021.
Why are you on the Trust board?
I want to work towards fulfilling my dream of seeing the Cottage’s terraces reflect our society at large: more women, more diversity and even more age mix. The Board gives me the chance to listen to supporters and would-be supporters and to convey their needs to the Club.
Why Fulham?
I can call it part of my home not only because I live close to Craven Cottage but because it is welcoming and it aspires to my values of family, decency and compassion, including for the disabled and those in mourning.
What’s most important to you about Fulham?
Its sense of community and being unpretentious. I fell in love with Fulham when we moved nearby in 1981 and were allowed to hold the jumble sale of the Bishop Creighton House Playgroup to which my infant children went. Support to us Senior Citizens during the recent Covid lockdown, many decades later, continues in that tradition. It was years before I could afford to buy tickets to games and now I feel so fortunate every time I renew my season ticket.
First match
I can’t remember which year it was, but I managed to buy tickets to bring my very young son and daughter to the Cottage to stand in the pouring rain behind goal. It was a game against Liverpool and Bruce Grobbelaar turned to smile at us every time he made a save, not realising we supported Fulham.
Favourite ever player
Berbatov! I loved the way he waddled around the pitch and suddenly produced his magic. Never seen anyone like him since!
If I was a Fulham player I’d be
I would like to be a goalkeeper! I also might consider being a winger because for my 68th birthday my present was a lesson in how to dribble a ball right down a field.
On match days you can find me …
In Johnny Haynes JL Row 1 Seat 160.
Best ever Fulham moment
Wembley 2018 when we were promoted.
Worst ever Fulham moment
Playing Crystal Palace in 2019 knowing we were already relegated.
Gavin Megaw
Football clubs are nothing without fans. I’d love to help the Fulham Supporters’ Trust continue to safeguard the best interests of all Fulham supporters.
I believe that every Fulham fan should know about the Trust and its important work and am committed to using my professional skill-set to make that happen.
Elected until
AGM 2025
Area of responsibility
Communications
Safety Advisory Group (SAG) representative
Day job
Strategic Communications Consultant
Skills
Making things happen
Joined Trust Board when?
December 2020
Why Fulham?
When I moved to London [1998] I wanted to watch live football. The Cottage was identified as an easy place to get into a game and the inevitable happened; I rapidly fell in love with the Cottage and team.
What’s most important to you about Fulham?
The Cottage is so special. That walk through the park and down the Stevenage Road towards the light and bustle of matchdays cannot be beaten. That I now do that with my son means the world to me.
First match
A 3-3 draw against York City. Cookie scrambled one over the line in front of the Hammersmith End where I was stood. We went ahead three times in the game yet finished with a point… typical Fulham from the start.
Favourite ever player
Luís Boa Morte. Every time he got the ball you felt something could happen. It was so exciting to watch, especially when he was running at someone. And, he was brilliant with the fans, that smile gave everyone energy.
If I was a Fulham player I’d be
Brian McBride. Not the most naturally talented, but I would have a real impact through hard work and perseverance.
On match days you can find me …
Usually start in Putney for some food with my son, before walking across the bridge, through the park and to our seats in the Johnny Haynes stand [JL].
Best ever Fulham moment
It used to be the Juventus game. We were spell blindingly good and the Cottage was absolutely buzzing. However, that has been beaten by Wembley 2018. Being there with my son and one of my best mates made it a very special moment that I will never forget.
Worst ever Fulham moment
I was genuinely alarmed towards the end of the Premier League season in 2019. Things were broken on the field, behind the scenes and within our fanbase. The fans were so negative, and The Cottage was not a nice place to be. It was a toxic time I feared all that was good about the club could unravel very quickly. Thankfully, my fears were overstated.
Steve Nicholson
I want to help ensure following Fulham in the future is a similar pleasure for others, as it has been for me and my family over many years.
Elected until
AGM 2026
Areas of responsibility
Member liaison
Day job
Education consultant, ex Headteacher
Skills
A wide range of skills, some more relevant than others.
Joined Trust Board when?
November 2023
Why are you on the Trust board?
I want to help ensure following Fulham in the future is a similar pleasure for others, as it has been for me and my family over many years. As Fulham fans we teeter on the edge between unadulterated happiness and complete despair, but we wouldn’t have it any other way, and we will always be there supporting Fulham.
Why Fulham?
I just got hooked in 1969 and that was the end of that!
What’s most important to you about Fulham?
That we can always relate to events as ‘Fulhamish’.
First match
Barrow at home Christmas 1969.
Favourite ever player
I do love the players others seem to dislike. I had a tee shirt with 5 and ‘Englands finest’ on the back when a certain Zat Knight was getting stick! There are too many, John Pantsil for his laps of honour, Steve Earle for his goals, John Mitchell for Maine Road, The Legend Johnny Haynes, who I managed to see during his last season. Best and Moore for that short period in the 70’s. Can’t pick one and could go on and on…..
On match days you can find me …
In the Spotted Horse or some random pub in another city, or town, for a pre-match pint or two.
Best ever Fulham moment
It was wonderful winning at Wembley with my wife and kids in attendance, it made up for 75, at long last. Europe was also stunning, Juve !!!! A win in Hamburg would have topped it off perfectly. Carlisle away and that Rodney moment again with family in tow, if a lot younger!
Worst ever Fulham moment
Swansea loss perhaps and Stoke wasn’t great.
