In the middle of that decade, the Cottagers had a trip to Wembley but Alan Taylor was West Ham's two-goal hero in the 1975 FA Cup final, against their old boy, Mooro's Fulham.
Had Marco Silva's current side not lost their quarter-final to Crystal Palace this season, they too would've given their fans a day out at the famous old stadium (albeit for one of this season's semi-finals) for the first time in 50 years.
Fulham's recent Premier League finishes have been miraculous
Fulham's cup run, as well as their Premier League form since the 47-year-old Portuguese took the reins, has seemingly gone under the radar for the most part, and it's worth pondering whether Silva remains one of the English top-flight's most underrated managers.
Against a backdrop of having just the 14th biggest net spend over the past five seasons (£121.4m) out of all 20 Premier League teams, and with Craven Cottage being the fourth smallest ground in the division with a capacity of only 29,589, that Silva has managed to guide his side to a 10th and 13th place finish in the past two seasons is nothing short of miraculous.
Currently ninth in the table, were Fulham to end the campaign with another top 10 finish it would be remarkable, and with five games left to play the manager's win percentage in 2024/25 of 41% is only bettered over the past few years by a 50% return in his first, promotion-winning, season with the West Londoners in 2021/22.
58 goals scored this season is just seven shy of his team's best recent return of 65 which came in 2023/24, whilst 52 conceded is well down on the past two campaigns (61 and 70 respectively).
The 16 wins that Fulham have had in 24/25 are also just two away from the 18 from 2022/23, and shows a consistency that marks out the Portuguese's way of playing.
Cottagers are rarely well beaten if they lose
Even when Fulham lose - as they have done on 12 occasions this season already - they don't tend to be well beaten and the opposition are made to work hard for three points.
Indeed, on only three occasions this season in the top flight have the Cottagers lost by more than a single goal.
Marco Silva's teams certainly play a decent attacking brand of football and aside from the goals already scored this season, Fulham have hit the woodwork nine times.
54 of their 58 goals to date in 24/25 have come inside the penalty area of which only nine were headers, which not only pinpoints a lack of wastefulness that has to come from the top down, but also shows the intention to keep the ball on the deck for the most part.
Passing accurately is definitely part of Silva's make up too as an astonishing 19,361 passes from his team this season would attest. Moreover, 16,439 have been accurate, giving a significant pass completion stat of 84.9%.
To put that into some sort of perspective, Premier League champions-elect, Liverpool, have made 22,073 passes this season of which 19,056 were successful (86.3%).
Fulham have played more forward passes than Man City this season
Fulham's 6,000 forward passes is also more than Man City's 5772, suggesting that they really aren't that far off in terms of their ball manipulation and intention to control matches by keeping possession, yet Silva is rarely mentioned in the same breath as the bigger managerial names in the English top flight.
As the great Brian Clough, once said; "If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he'd have put grass up there," and it seems that the Portuguese very definitely sings from the same hymn sheet.
Defensively, the West Londoners could perhaps improve on the amount of goals conceded, but in terms of commitment, winning 418 of their 694 attempted tackles for a 60.2% success rate - and winning possession back on 1,673 occasions - is laudable.
Once again, it's a reflection of the type of play that's desired by the manager, because every football team plays in the image of the man that stands on the sidelines coaching and cajoling them each and every week, and they are a reflection of his footballing acumen.
For whatever reason, Marco Silva always seems to slip through the cracks when talk of manager of the year or some such is mentioned, but when all is said and done, there needs to be a nod in the 47-year-old's direction and an acknowledgment of how he's managed to keep his team competitive and playing good football whilst not enjoying the financial luxury of his contemporaries.
