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Where have the crowds gone?

J

jiggajagga

Judge_Mental
When I watched MOTD last night one of the first things that struck me was the number of empty seats that could be seen, especially ( as the North-East are always telling us that they are the best supporters in the world) at Sunderland.
Here was a team, back in the Premiership, first match and what was the crowd.

Capacity...48, 300
Yesterday.34, 466
I make that 70-75% capacity?

"MICK McCARTHY has called on Sunderland fans to pack the Stadium of Light and celebrate their return to the Premiership.

Attendances have dwindled since 48,000 sell-outs watched Peter Reid’s sides twice finish seventh in the Premiership."

Whats going on up there lads?
Is the Premiership bubble about to burst with the domination of the league by 2 or 3 teams?
 
We were almost full yesterday. I've always wondered how big crowds West Ham would be able to get if we ever became a consistently top 3 premiership side. I think we could get 50,000 a week easily.
 
It's the cost. I have to think twice about whether I can spend £13 (£15 if it's a last minute decision or I can't buy in advance for whatever reason) on watching fourth tier football. Fans don't get any richer as you move up the leagues you know.

The profile of today's premier league fan is frightening for the future of the game as a spectator sport - white & middle aged. Kids can't afford to come on their own anymore, so they're not getting into the habit of watching matches live. Fast forward 15/20 years and you have a generation of supporters who, unlike us, simply never went to matches when they were younger and are therefore less inclined to do it now.
 
JTG said:
Fast forward 15/20 years and you have a generation of supporters who, unlike us, simply never went to matches when they were younger and are therefore less inclined to do it now.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree with you more JT. I think you hit the nail right on the head there.
 
prices in the uk are ridiculous. I have a season ticket for RCD Espanyol in La Liga, 121 Euros, that's just over 6 euros a game.

a severe lack of expectation, justified as it proved, also had something to do with sunderlands low attendance, and also the fact Newcastle have struggled to sell all of their season tickets for the coming season.
 
mrkikiet said:
prices in the uk are ridiculous. I have a season ticket for RCD Espanyol in La Liga, 121 Euros, that's just over 6 euros a game.

a severe lack of expectation, justified as it proved, also had something to do with sunderlands low attendance, and also the fact Newcastle have struggled to sell all of their season tickets for the coming season.
Click to expand...

]Yep, even the really big European teams have some seats that are less than a tenner - cheaper than Orient!!!

Bloody crazy really how expensive it is in England, especially when you consider that, apart from say Chelsea or MAn U, we still don't attract the very best players to the English league.
 
jiggajagga said:
When I watched MOTD last night one of the first things that struck me was the number of empty seats that could be seen, especially ( as the North-East are always telling us that they are the best supporters in the world) at Sunderland.
Here was a team, back in the Premiership, first match and what was the crowd.

Capacity...48, 300
Yesterday.34, 466
I make that 70-75% capacity?

"MICK McCARTHY has called on Sunderland fans to pack the Stadium of Light and celebrate their return to the Premiership.

Attendances have dwindled since 48,000 sell-outs watched Peter Reid’s sides twice finish seventh in the Premiership."

Whats going on up there lads?
Is the Premiership bubble about to burst with the domination of the league by 2 or 3 teams?
Click to expand...


I went up to Sunderland with west ham in the cup the year we beat Man U at home. It was half empty then and we took 6500 up there for a midday kick off on a sunday. And they were completely quiet. Best supporters in the world? Bollocks
 
Skimix said:
I went up to Sunderland with west ham in the cup the year we beat Man U at home. It was half empty then and we took 6500 up there for a midday kick off on a sunday. And they were completely quiet. Best supporters in the world? Bollocks
Click to expand...

Middlesbrough are even worse for Cup no-shows
 
mrkikiet said:
prices in the uk are ridiculous. I have a season ticket for RCD Espanyol in La Liga, 121 Euros, that's just over 6 euros a game.

a severe lack of expectation, justified as it proved, also had something to do with sunderlands low attendance, and also the fact Newcastle have struggled to sell all of their season tickets for the coming season.
Click to expand...

It was £410 to become a new season ticket holder in the cheapest part of the ground this year. For second tier football - can anyone match that for shit value? £21 for a matchday ticket, £23 if you buy it on the day (yes, that's right they up the price 10% because you pay on the turnstile. They've got to have someone manning them anyway, and all they've got to do is give him some change and a bundle of tickets. But it's 10% more expensive)

It's a fucking miracle we get the attendances we do.
 
I saw the same thing and was shocked by the empty seats, the only time the Stadium of Shite was sold out last season was the last game against Stoke, best supporters in the world my arse.

Although it was good to see Darren Bent score twice on his debut though, four ex Ipswich boys on the pitch. Benty, Kelvin Davis, the Hermanator and Darren Ambrose. Only Matty Holland was missing. Got quite nostalgic me!!!

BTW there was 21,000 at Leicester yesterday, and 3,000 were Ipswich supporters. THATS support.
 
No GNER services at all today, Easyjet price hiking up to amounts that you could probably but a Boeing for and BA kicking folks off flights because of some catering malarkey.

Add to that most of the A1 and M1 buried under traffic cones, its a miracle that 3,000 Newcastle fans will manage to get there for 1.15pm...stupid bloody time

Sunderland fans are petty little swines, most of the ones I know have accepted relegation and are now pretending to be Newcastle fans. The SOS being under capacity does not surprise me, nor will Wigan selling out today for that matter.

I don't know who told you Sunderland fans are the best in the world, but clearly your gullible to belive them

Newcastle had 1,800 season tickets going spare, believe most of them have been sold, still the biggest amount of season ticket holders in England.

Quite why I've parted with £500 to watch what last season was the worst football I've seen my team play since Richard Dinnis I don't know, its the morbid fear of something happening
 
JTG said:
Middlesbrough are even worse for Cup no-shows
Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember Rocket Romano saying people up there didn't care for England. They appear not to even care about their own club teams that much either, other than Newcastle...
 
What people forget is that Middlesbrough are historically no more than a middle ranking football club. Newcastle and Sunderland have had their glory years when they were genuinely at the very top of the English game, Middlesbrough never have. Gates at Ayresome Park before the Robson era were generally, what, 10,000? Less than that when the club went bust in 1986.

I visited Darlington for football and stayed over. Nearest Prem club is Middlesbrough but you're far more likely to see shirts of Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds and the local club than you are of Boro.
 
Villa's home crowd was 33,000 odd on Saturday, which is well down on last season's average.

It must be remembered that it is the middle of August and lots of people and their families will be on holiday. Whilst the Holte was pretty much full, the other stands where families tend to sit were patchy.
 
Or it could be that the fans at Villa stayed away because of the lies regarding "substantial transfer funds" being spent over the summer?

Bolton hardly play total football either. It had all the hallmarks of a dour match, but it was actually quite entertaining.
 
I haven't been to a match in about ten years but an old workmate recently asked me if I wanted to go along to see Chelsea with him and his pals, I was up for it until I discovered the ticket would cost me £48 :eek:
 
RenegadeDog said:
We were almost full yesterday. I've always wondered how big crowds West Ham would be able to get if we ever became a consistently top 3 premiership side. I think we could get 50,000 a week easily.
Click to expand...

Think we got bout 33k on saturday thats not so ggod in a 40k stadium.Thought the every man and his dog would wanna be there saturday to see first game back in the big time.If there's gonna be crowds slijke that all season I will definitely get meself up there for a few,but tbh didnt think I'd have a sniff of a ticket!

So when we having the first U75 Hammers gig then?
 
1927 said:
Think we got bout 33k on saturday thats not so ggod in a 40k stadium.Thought the every man and his dog would wanna be there saturday to see first game back in the big time.If there's gonna be crowds slijke that all season I will definitely get meself up there for a few,but tbh didnt think I'd have a sniff of a ticket!

So when we having the first U75 Hammers gig then?
Click to expand...

It's 35k isn't it?

It often isn't that easy to get tickets - just before I left the UK I tried to go to a Wednesday night game, against Bradford. I thought I could just turn up and get a ticket and go in, but the queue went almost round the block! I missed most of hte first half queuing up!!!
 
Spurs filled the away end at Fratton park, from what I've been told the Pompey fans fucked off ten minutes early in the driving rain at 0-2 down
 
36,000 at White Hart Lane for the friendly against Porto last week. Still had to pay £25 for an adult ticket (cheaper than usual).
 
When I was working in the north east the last time Sunderland were in the prem, I thought I'd try and get along to a game. Totally speculatively I asked about tickets for the match vs Man U and, amazingly, got one first time on the phone. The ground was only about 3/4 full.

Newcastle I had a much tougher job with, I had to call in some favours to get in on someone's season ticket.
 
August attendances are traditionally lower than other times of the season, aren't they?

Don't have any stats to hand so I could be wrong.
 
RenegadeDog said:
We were almost full yesterday. I've always wondered how big crowds West Ham would be able to get if we ever became a consistently top 3 premiership side. I think we could get 50,000 a week easily.
Click to expand...

I was just thinking that ..except we can't fit 50,000 in our ground!

We need a new stadium and I can't help thinking that this takeover bid is not somewhow linked to the Olympics being staged in Stratford. There was some talk a while back of the Hammers doping some deal and taking over the olympic stadium -that would be cool. I think it is time to move out of Upton Park and get a state of the art stadium and yes 50000 crowds are a distinct possibility, providing they can all fit in!

As regards crowds in general I do think the premiership bubble is about to burst. We have a recession on to go to a soccer match is bloody expensive, to take your kids to a match is ridiculously expensive. So yes crowds will dwindle. Gates rose during the mid to late nineties in conjuction with the economic boom. That has burst and we will no doubt see a coinciding fall in gates.
 
Batboy said:
I was just thinking that ..except we can't fit 50,000 in our ground!

We need a new stadium and I can't help thinking that this takeover bid is not somewhow linked to the Olympics being staged in Stratford. There was some talk a while back of the Hammers doping some deal and taking over the olympic stadium -that would be cool. I think it is time to move out of Upton Park and get a state of the art stadium and yes 50000 crowds are a distinct possibility, providing they can all fit in!

As regards crowds in general I do think the premiership bubble is about to burst. We have a recession on to go to a soccer match is bloody expensive, to take your kids to a match is ridiculously expensive. So yes crowds will dwindle. Gates rose during the mid to late nineties in conjuction with the economic boom. That has burst and we will no doubt see a coinciding fall in gates.
Click to expand...

And are people not begining to see that in reality the Premiership is shit? It's not competative and it's full of ludicrously over hyped playboys completely divorced from reality. It's about club branded credit cards and sponsorship deals and corporate takeovers. It's suprise free football. It's dead football. It's not unlike the Scottish Premiership in many respects. I think your right about the cost factor but there is more to it than simply that I think.
I wonder if the fact that cricket has had such a renaisance is due in some small way to the fact that the likes of Vaughn and Flintoff are resolutely ordinary. Obviously the fact we are good at it for the first time in years is a big part of it as well.
 
Take the Arse V Chelsea match at the weekend.
The match was so 'interesting' according to the radio commentators that they began discussing a phone in prize by phoning a number on a big screen at the ground ffs!.
I assume the ground was packed for that match? Wht would it cost a family of four to watch that cack? Did you go and did you feel cheated by the quality of the game against the price you paid?
I mean, if you took your family to the theatre and it was rubbish with badly motivated actors wouldn't you leave and demand your cash back?
 
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