Fulham F.C. of the early grounds listed below are likely to have been parks and parkland, which have now been developed. Even when the club purchased Craven Cottage and the surrounding land in 1894, they had to wait two years before they could play a game there. The Fulham mascot is Billy the Badger, who was the winning design sent in by Kyle Jackson after an online competition by the club. Billy the Badger wears the number 79 Fulham shirt, in reference to the club's year of founding, 1879. Controversy first surrounded Billy when he tried to cheer up Chelsea manager Avram
English football bribery scandal the club again. Among the players banned was Billy Meredith, who was banned from football for 18 months and was transferred to City's local rivals Manchester United before the end of his ban. Billy Meredith played football for Manchester City from 1894 to 1905, when the scandal took place. He was the key participant in the 1905 scandal, where he allegedly tried to bribe Alex Leake, a rival football player for Aston Villa, £10 to throw the final match of the 1904-1905 English football season. Alex Leake turned Meredith in to The Football Association when asked about the incident; however,