It doesn't matter how you dress it up, the attendance today is what you might expect from a club like Wigan for a 5th round tie, but not Sunderland for Christ's sake..It was a shocker which ever way you look at it..
I'm not talking about catchment, I'm talking about the percentage of proper Sunderland supporters in the area compared to those outside. You don't travel up the A1/A19 for 130 miles so you don't see the 100's driving up for every match. You don't see the Herts branch minibus or the coach from the Midlands or the London branch lads. I don't see the Scottish & Northumberland lads or those who come from Cumbria although I see them now and again for a pint. I don't blame a single one of them for choosing Wembley over Sunderland reserves when they can sit at home and watch it on the telly.
So don't look ....... no ****er's twisting your arm. Did you come on here with tales of a half empty SJP, after 70 minutes, booing their own team against Spurs?
I'm more than aware of the many fans who travel from the out of town areas Smug, and I'll bet you the majority of these supporters club coaches made the trip today, certainly the coach park was pretty standard. Again, that is not the point is it? Even if we said 10k travelled from out of area for home games, there would still be a 13k shortfall on our average attendance. Package it any way you like, the cold hard facts are 16,777. The game was on pay per view TV, so that's bollocks, not many even have BT Sport.
I was a member of the London & SE England branch for years. Some of those lads went to every game. Home and away.
OK mate, our support is ****ing **** ........ I surrender. What excuse did Southampton have for bringing a few hundred of their average gate? No cup final to budget for, no relegation battle to budget for. No live TV and every chance of an FA Cup 1/4 final against Sunderland's reserves.
Well frankly mate, our support isn't great, the old Roker Roar is long gone, the numbers are dwindling, and there's a million reasons not to go. Our away support remains top class, and I tell you, when I go away, I see the same faces I've seen for nearly 20 years, rain, shine, win, lose, Premier League, Championship, Valentine's Day... Seriously man, someone said 'Valentine's Day'. Can't get my head round that like.
A bit yeah tbh ........... there's nowt that ****ing winds me up more than this ****e. FFS the NE is on it's arse and lads are struggling to keep it together ........ the last thing they need are people with money rubbing their nose in the **** 'cos they have to pick and choose their games. Of course everyone wants to see their team at Wembley ........ what a ****ing surprise.
Of course ........ we've had 40 years of absolutely **** all and we average 40,000 with little help from away support. That's not great for a relegation club in a depressed area is it? Where were half of these wonderfully loyal season ticket holders today btw?
If you weren't aware Sunderland played today, you can tell because everyone wants something to twist on about. Oh, we won by the way. Or thats what Ive heard anyway.
So it's about money now and not the weak team? **** sake man none of us have any issue with folk who can't afford to go, that's a different thing altogether. 22,000 of our average attendance are all too skint to pay £15? Bollocks. Maybe half of that can be justified for economic reasons, probs a lot less as the folk who sadly can't afford the game today, are probably missing from the majority of league games too. Nobody is rubbing anyone's nose in it, you've ran out of ammo and have changed the whole direction of your argument man, it was the team, now it's money.
How can you say the numbers are dwindling when we average 40,000 for the last 4 year's? Most clubs do not care about the cup no more so thats why many many teams have poor cup crowds. At the end of the day mate we won.
Our cup crowds have always been poor so **** knows why you banging on about our cup crowds this season for. you jealous like?
