Stamford Bridge and Craven Cottage are separated by less than two miles, and over the years many have crossed the divide and played in the blue of Chelsea and white of Fulham. Here we look at some of the best to have done so ahead of the first of three London derbies this week...
Indeed, two members of the current Fulham squad, Willian and Nathaniel Chalobah, once wore our colours, while our number three keeper Marcus Bettinelli spent several successful years on the banks of the River Thames.
Before we meet our closest neighbours tomorrow night, we have picked out a collection of those who will always have two different ends of SW6 in their hearts…
Roy Bentley
Let’s start with the great Roy Bentley. Captain of Chelsea’s first title-winning side of 1954/55, and a scorer of precisely 150 goals for us as a centre-forward, Bentley moved to the Cottage a year after lifting the championship.
There he changed position twice, initially to right-half and then centre-half, and it worked wonders. He helped Fulham to the FA Cup semi-final in 1958 before playing 35 times as they won promotion to the First Division the following season.
Damien Duff
Fast-forward 50 years and another exciting attacker was making their mark in west London. We signed Damien Duff in 2003 as part of that summer’s revolution, and the winger would go on to enjoy three wonderful seasons at the Bridge in which we won back-to-back titles and a League Cup.
He subsequently spent five years at Fulham, between 2009 and 2014, making 173 appearances and playing a crucial role in the Cottagers’ dramatic journey to the Europa League final in 2010.
Clive Walker
Like Duff, Clive Walker was a tricky winger who loved to beat his man and get crosses in. He played just under 200 times for us having come through the ranks, famously netting a vital winner at Bolton in 1983 to stave off relegation from the Second Division.
After spells at Sunderland and another west London club, QPR, Walker joined Fulham in 1987, featuring regularly during three seasons at the Cottage.
John Dempsey
John Dempsey was a solid defender who rarely missed a game during 13 years of combined service to Fulham and Chelsea. A youth product of the first club, he made the £70,000 switch to Chelsea early in 1969, and within 18 months was an FA Cup winner after our legendary replay success over Leeds.
He played in both of those games, as he did in the Cup Winners’ Cup final the following year, even scoring our first goal in the 2-1 replay win against Real Madrid in Athens.
Andre Schurrle
Andre Schurrle’s Chelsea star burned briefly but brightly between 2013 and 2015. A useful attacker who could play anywhere in the forward line, arguably the highlight of his Blues career was the hat-trick he scored against Fulham at the Cottage in March 2014, not long before supplying the assist for the only goal in the 2014 World Cup final.
Despite leaving midway through the following season, the German collected a Premier League winner’s medal. Schurrle later spent 2018/19 on loan at Fulham from Borussia Dortmund, scoring six times in his second west London stint. He retired in 2020, aged just 29.