‘Hollywood star paid for my transfer’
FULHAM cult hero Robbie Herrera has recalled the fascinating story of actor Hugh Grant paying at least half of his £60,000 transfer fee in 1993.
Fulham had fallen on hard times in the early 1990s and were in the market for a new leftback, with QPR defender Herrera being identified as a target.
Jimmy Hill, who was then Fulham chairman, appealed to fans to donate what they could towards Herrera’s transfer fee, but the club still could not muster the full funds required.
Herrera revealed: “I didn’t know too much about the donation.
“When it came to the clubs agreeing on a deal, Fulham just couldn’t afford it.
“It went to a tribunal and I remember being in there in front of the FA panel.
“When they said it was going to be £60,000, I thought, ‘That’s all right, they’ve got a bargain, to be fair’. And Jimmy Hill, God bless him, said at the time, ‘Financially, we can’t afford that’.
All hope looked to be lost for the struggling west London club, but then suddenly Fulham found themselves with the cash required.
Herrera added: “A few days later, I got a call from Don Mackay, the former Fulham boss.
“It was deadline day and he said, ‘When you finish training, come over, we’ve managed to sort out the money’ – and that was that.”
Shortly after the transfer was complete, a rumour emerged that film star and lifelong Fulham fan Hugh Grant (below) had put up the money for the fee.
“Apparently, he paid half of it,” said Herrera.
“It was a £30,000 down payment and then £30,000 after so many games.
“I have been told – and it came from good sources – that he put down either the initial instalment or he was going to pay the final instalment. “I got a bit of stick off some of the lads, like Simon Morgan, who was a close friend and my room-mate. But it was harmless and good-natured.”
Herrera never got the chance to meet Hugh, and the finer details of his transfer to Fulham remain shrouded in mystery.
But Herrera, who now manages Southern League Premier Division South side Dorchester Town, admits that he would have liked to thank the Four Weddings and a Funeral star.
Herrera said: “There was no contact at all. It would have been nice to have met Hugh and said thanks – but I couldn’t get anywhere near him.”