Interesting article in the Mail. Don't worry..looked on net after Sky mentioned it..wouldn't buy it. Talking about high attendances in the FL, using Saints as example. Talks about how fans tend to find the FL, especially the Championship, more exciting than the Premier League. We've talked about this recently as well. Says Championship attendances have gone up, but League 1 numbers have gone down. I have to suggest that's because of Saints' promotion and also Brighton's promotion and move to larger stadium.
I had actually been a little disappointed with our attendances until Tuesday. We are newly promoted, playing the best style of football seen here for yearts and we're currently successful (as in top of the league).......... why aren't we knocking on 30k plus every week?
They mention in the article that attendances overall in the Championship do not seem to be affected by the recession. It may be that it has an affect on individual teams. If you can only go to a few games a year you will pick a game that interests you. It will be interesting to see the attendances from now on if we maintain our momentum. My ticket for Middlesborough has pride of place on mantelpeice..expect a big gate for that one.
I am with you on that one. It was so good to actually see Saints WINNING games in League 1 after our torrid times/relegations. After we got promoted I braced myself for this season and the possibility of losing more often and instead it is no different and we just keep winning. HAPPY DAYS!!
We were averaging around 30k in the Prem. The most we averaged in the Championship was around 26k. If we average 24-25k we'll be doing well imo.
I've got no qualms about attendence this year, I think it's been fairly good. I remember our last season in the Championship when we were getting gates of only 13,000 - those were crap times that's for sure, and right when the team probably needed the fans more than ever!
saintgreg, I agree with you saying we needed the fans more then but if you look at the timing of things and what Ol' Wupert was doing at the time it was about right for the boycotting because of him. Once the admin was in and he stepped down the gates started increasing again
Interesting stats: we're getting 2.16 points per game (Pompey 0.5). Points per game are 3.0 if we lead at half-time, 1.3 if drawing at half-time (3 games) but only 0.5 if we're losing at half-time (mind you, they only have 2 games to go on for that stat). We're only fifth on form over last 8 games, but obviously top over season so far. Love the little (1) after our name.
Yeah some good stats on football365, can be quite distracting! Also www.statto.com/football/teams/southampton
You also have to consider how much more tickets cost at some Premiership matches. I am not saying 26 quid is cheap but some Premiership teams charge 40+.
Don't think for one minute that the Don is unaware of that. I can hear the clack of his abacus from the Oyl o' Wight.
Also interesting that every time we have scored first this season (7 times) we have gone on to win the game. That just doesn't sound like the Southampton of old!
I wouldn't be too disappointed. You could use my case as a reference, if you like, and as a pointer to the future. During the period of 2000 - 2006, I was in one of my regular attendee of matches periods. But then the work started to evolve into one where I had to make myself available at the weekends, specifically Saturdays, and the motivation to resist that just ebbed away to nothing, at a certain tipping point, and I stopped going to St Marys. So I've completely lost the habit of going to matches, and I don't even budget for it any more. So even when I can just about manage it, I don't take up the opportunity. But lately, I've been thinking about trying to get along to games again. If I'm doing it, there must be other people like me.
