Three year Cottage deal

Fulham will pay more than £5million to refurbish Craven Cottage but may only return to their historic home for three years.

The club have announced they are seeking planning permission to turn the outdated ground into a 22,000-seat stadium with executive boxes and a roof over one previously uncovered end.

Work on the pitch has already begun and they expect to move back in next season, as Standard Sport revealed two months ago.

Fans hope the move will become permanent but the club are only seeking permission to build temporary structures and although the refurbished stands could last 15 years, chairman Mohamed Fayed wants to move out in three.

He is looking for a site to build a new stadium and is keen on plots in White City.

The commercial potential of Craven Cottage has never satisfied Fayed but whether the conditional sale of the ground to housing developer Nick Sutton for £50m, from which Fulham took a £15m advance payment, is a factor in his on-going search is unclear. Fayed said: "I still believe if we are to fulfil our longterm dreams of making Fulham a major force in football we need a larger stadium than it is possible to erect at the Cottage."