Jim Stannard's £10K Target

Twitter users may have recently seen a campaign to raise £10,000 for Jim Stannard to have an operation on his prostate.

The Just Giving page launched under two weeks ago, but such is the former goalkeeper’s popularity, he’s already closing in on his target.

“It’s been absolutely brilliant, it’s like a football family,” Stannard replied when asked for his reaction to the donations. “All the supporters from Fulham, Southend and Gillingham have come together and donated, which is magnificent. I’m so pleased, absolutely chuffed.

“I’m humbled beyond belief. To think it’s only been 10 or 11 days and we’ve almost reached that target.”

At the time of writing, Jim sits about £1,300 short of the sum needed.

“I’ve looked this morning and we’re just stuck on a certain amount of money,” he explained. “I’m sure we’ll get there, but I’m so chuffed that we’ve raised as much as we have in this sort of time which means I can get the operation much quicker.

“I was in hospital yesterday having the first part of it done, and it’s just nice that we can get this sorted in the next few weeks.

“Unfortunately, things happen in life and this has happened to me, but the football community has come together and shown their support through my Just Giving page.

“I just need to reach that final target now, we’re a bit short at the moment, but hopefully we get there over the next week or so.

“The operation’s been booked in for early August, and that’s on the assumption that I can reach that final bit.

“But the support has been fantastic and I’m really chuffed with what everyone’s done for me. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Ordinarily, the operation would be done on the NHS, but the knock-on effect of Covid meant that Stannard would have been looking at a substantial wait.

“I went private to get the diagnosis first of all, and then the NHS have unfortunately got a lot of backlogs,” he said. “My consultant came back to me and said it would be at least 10-12 months before I got the operation, and for what I need done it could even be a little bit longer.

“I was originally quoted that my prostate was 70 per cent enlarged, but the results yesterday showed that it’s a little bit bigger than that.

“So it’s quite important that I can get this sorted out, and the way the supporters have come together, as I said before, I’m so humbled that they’ve raised the money for me.”

Fans under the age of 30 would likely have never seen Stannard play. But to give that generation some context, he is quite simply a Club legend.

Across two spells with the Whites, he played 430 times, putting him eighth amongst our all-time appearance makers.

And so it was apt that he became one of the very first recipients of a Forever Fulham award, which he was presented with at half-time of our 1-0 win over Birmingham City in December 2017.

“That was lovely,” Jim said. “Fulham is me, really. It was such a big part of my life, I spent the majority of my career there and had some great times.

“I keep in contact with David Daly and he invited me to come back to the Club a few years ago to get the award, which was fantastic.

“Fulham will always be in my heart after spending so much time there and playing so many games for them.

“I always had a good relationship with the supporters, they were fantastic, even though they were dark days at Fulham back then in the lower leagues.

“It’s always been a big part of my life, and I still love watching Fulham now.”

Donate to Jim’s Just Giving Page