All-time attendance table

[Nordic Saint]

Niall has just updated it:

 

http://www.nufc.com/2016-17html/attendance-all-time.html

[Pamplemousse]

Surely some mistake, how can we possibly be ahead of the skates?

[spyinthesky]

Surely some mistake, how can we possibly be ahead of the skates?

 

Especially since Pompey have been the most successful club on the South Coast for centuries and have had the largest stadium for all bar 14 years

[hutch]

My simple brain says that our current attendances are about 12,000 above that average, so we're going up at about 100 a year and the skates are still going backwards.

[VectisSaint]

My simple brain says that our current attendances are about 12,000 above that average, so we're going up at about 100 a year and the skates are still going backwards.

WE should move above Forest in 2 or 3 games time. It might take a while to crack Derby though as their average home attendance is running in the high 29ks, about 1000 less than us so far this season.

[Crab Lungs]

That's not correct, Portsmouth should surely top that list?

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Jeez that's some research

[david in sweden]

....for those who are doubting the figures, it's good to recall that although Saints had good stats in the immediate post WW2 seasons, when we actually averaged over 25,000 in 1948-49, the attendances fell to around 11,500 in 1955-56 ...after the relegation to Div 3 (in 1952-53).

 

Performances improved after Ted Bates became manager and by the time we were promoted back up to Div.2 (1959-60) we had average gates of over 18,000. Our promotion to Div.1 (read Prem.) in 1965-66 saw gates of over 25,500, and despite several seasons when we struggled, we still maintained an average around 22,000.

 

All through the period after winning the FA Cup, we still got average gates in excess of 21,000, although this had dropped to around 15,000 in the early 1980's.

 

Sadly after several crowd disasters, All-seater stadia were demanded by the FA and The Dell was reduced from its former capacity (record gate 31,044) ....to a meagre 15,000, and that figure was quite stable for approx. 15 more years ....until St.Mary's was built.

 

Of course, gates have been back up since, and even those relegations to Championship and L1 didn't deter the core fan base of 14-15,000.

 

Since returning to the Prem. we have averaged over 30,000 every season, and although we now see that level of attendance nearly every home game ....in consideration of the overall history....in all probability - the figures quoted in the OP.....are fairly accurate.

Edited 2 September, 2016 by david in sweden

[adrian lord]

Charlton are lower than I expected - the Valley used to hold 70 thousand but I guess the long decades in the wilderness and ground-sharing has killed their all-time average.

[spyinthesky]

It is also worthy of note that in the two years when Pompey won the league soon after WW11, when grounds were full throughout the country, Pompey only averaged 37,000 in a ground with a capacity of 50,000