bluemagic Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 (edited) I got my first season ticket in the 92/93, but I can't remember us ever coming close to selling out the stadium on a regular basis. Even when we did sell out - Man United and the other lot - a good proportion in the south and north were away fans. I honestly question whether we are capable of getting 35-40k home fans except in exceptional circumstances. You look back at our attendance record and we got 31k when we finished runners up in 61, and when we've had decent teams (90's and now) we haven't threatened to equal or surpass that. The only time we got over 40k was after the war, when there wasn't any other entertainment, and people would switch watching between wed/united, obviously boosting home attendance, due to the difficulty of travelling to away matches. I wonder, would we be better off either redeveloping (replace lep and kop) Hillsborough to a 30-32k capacity stadium or building a new one with a similar capacity. Nothing wrong with admitting a 40k stadium is too big, Juventus moved into a new 40k Stadium - from a 60k Stadium - to improve demand for tickets, improve the atmosphere and to fill the stadium, because they simple couldnt sell 60k of tickets. Edited March 19, 2017 by bluemagic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scram Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 Please dont question our ability to fill our stadium Can we just continue to sneer at other fans Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Lestrade Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 All the new stadia in the top two divisions have increased attendances. Look at Derby moved to a new ground get fantastic gates. No reason if we got to the Premiership we could pull 35000 plus in a new stadium or a massively redeveloped ground. Also think united could do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemagic Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 Maybe for the first season when we get promoted we could, but look at West Brom, 26,852 capacity stadium and still empty seats vs Arsenal on the weekend. The buzz of the Premier League soon wears off when you are struggling every season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick_Turpin Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 Our crowds are more consistent than they used to be and have been for a while - but for big games they're a bit underwhelming. 26k on Friday for a game that could have gone a long way to clinching a play off spot was a bit disappointing. The season ticket sales have helped boost overall levels but maybe POTG prices means for games like Friday we don't get the figures we might have done in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriss Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 if we went to 30k, SYP would still ensure we didnt get above 20k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1963owl Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 i dont know if we"ll ever get 40k crowds but i know we wont if we have a 30k stadium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemagic Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 1 minute ago, 1963owl said: i dont know if we"ll ever get 40k crowds but i know we wont if we have a 30k stadium We may get 30k on a more regular basis however, as people wouldn't be guaranteed of a seat, plus you get the feel good factor of a full house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesteel Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 (edited) It's probably worth having 40k for the times we can fill it. It costs a lot to re build or alter so you'd rather have the ability to sell seats. Especially as we have 20k STs and waiting lists. I think the bigger issues are the segregation and the fact a whole stand is out of use and given to away fans. Half the time for big games we want to fill it but can't. Juve and some of the other stadiums were miles from the pitch which added a double whammy on atmosphere. I don't think we have a significant problem whilst we are still getting north of 25k for standard games. Edited March 19, 2017 by Bluesteel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1963owl Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 Just now, bluemagic said: We may get 30k on a more regular basis however, as people wouldn't be guaranteed of a seat, plus you get the feel good factor of a full house. & wed be saying, we need a 40k stadium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Grez Bez Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 It's only too big if you lack business sense / vision and care about daft % ratios.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Rimmer Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 if we got into the premiership now we wouldn't be far off of 40k, attendances have increased in general. If teams like Sunderland, Everton, West Ham can get that then we can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costello 77 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 We'll need forty for the take that concerts..not to mention Drake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemagic Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 3 minutes ago, Ellis Rimmer said: if we got into the premiership now we wouldn't be far off of 40k, attendances have increased in general. If teams like Sunderland, Everton, West Ham can get that then we can. Historically Sunderland and Everton have always got more than us. For example in 1961 when we finished 2nd in Division One we got 30k, and Everton got 43k, and in 1965 when Sunderland only finished 15th in Division 1 they got over 40k avg. London is a growing city and far more people to attract in. I think it boils down to us sharing a 500k city, split roughly 50/50, not many surrounding towns to draw from, and when you have 250k people, you normally hover around 20-30k avg, which we historically always have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doghouse Daz Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 Not so long ago we were looking at revamping the stadium for the failed World Cup bid. Increasing capacity to 45,000 at a cost of £20M , mostly funded by the FA and other bodies. Will it still be a viable proposition. I certainly would think so , and those plans looked spot on to me. Near sell out crowds to boot as well when we get back in the prem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Rimmer Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 1 minute ago, bluemagic said: Historically Sunderland and Everton have always got more than us. For example in 1961 when we finished 2nd in Division One we got 30k, and Everton got 43k, and in 1965 when Sunderland only finished 15th in Division 1 they got over 40k avg. London is a growing city and far more people to attract in. I think it boils down to us sharing a 500k city, split roughly 50/50, not many surrounding towns to draw from, and when you have 250k people, you normally hover around 20-30k avg, which we historically always have done. Sunerland aint a big place, if they can attract that many fans then we can aim for that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemagic Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 4 minutes ago, Ellis Rimmer said: Sunerland aint a big place, if they can attract that many fans then we can aim for that Hard one to explain the attendances in the North East; much higher than anywhere else per head of population. Think it comes down to them being football mad up there, and no other team except Newcastle for a huge area to draw fans from. Our drawback is the towns surrounding us are infested with Man Utd and Liverpool fans. That won't alter unless we competed at the top of the Premier, which is more unlikely now than ever before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysticOwl Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 We are a sleeping giant. That includes our fans. Once we start playing premier league football again the fans will come back more regularly. But to be a 40k team every home game we would need to win a few trophies and be a consistent top 6 team at a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Rimmer Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 6 minutes ago, bluemagic said: Hard one to explain the attendances in the North East; much higher than anywhere else per head of population. Think it comes down to them being football mad up there, and no other team except Newcastle for a huge area to draw fans from. Our drawback is the towns surrounding us are infested with Man Utd and Liverpool fans. That won't alter unless we competed at the top of the Premier, which is more unlikely now than ever before. Cheap as chips up there too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemagic Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 14 minutes ago, daztheowl said: Not so long ago we were looking at revamping the stadium for the failed World Cup bid. Increasing capacity to 45,000 at a cost of £20M , mostly funded by the FA and other bodies. Will it still be a viable proposition. I certainly would think so , and those plans looked spot on to me. Near sell out crowds to boot as well when we get back in the prem. I thought the lepping lane end looked decent, where the kop met the north looked a little bit messy to my eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now