Fulham fans will walk on water in the future as a result of the club buying a ‘chunk’ of the Thames.

The board is not saying how much they paid the Port of London Authority, but were forced into the purchase after unveiling plans to extend the Riverside Stand.

The new structure is scheduled to rise in height, but also needs to extend outwards into the river to not only house more spectators, but ensure the river walk is now all but complete between Putney and Hammersmith bridges.

Like it is: Riverside Stand

Fulham plan a 30,000 capacity for a ground currently holding 25,700. And the one part of the historic stadium with a bit of space to spare is the Riverside, with the Thames right behind it.

Fulham CEO Alistair Mackintosh explained the watery acquisition.

“We’ve had lots of progress in the last two or three weeks,” he said.

“Firstly, we’ve concluded with the Port of London Authority the licence to work with the river and we’re also through the period during which we could have a legal challenge.

Extension: Riverside Stand of the future

“We’ve also managed to buy a big chunk of the Thames, which isn’t something we were certain we could do.

“The Riverside Stand and the development of Craven Cottage is a long-term project.

“It doesn’t matter which division we’re in. We’re now going to move forward with discharging some of the planning conditions so that will allow us to build the Riverside Stand, hopefully starting next year.

“We’ve also been looking at the Hammersmith stand just to see if there’s anything we can do there.

“The chairman (Shahid Khan) loves Craven Cottage. The fans love Craven Cottage. The last thing he wants to do is move out of Craven Cottage. Over the next few months we’ll also be investing some money in the Cottage itself to make it look like it is looked after.”