[Albion] What was Attendance

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Bed wetting
Not you H, please no.

Sometimes some words are apt. This one perfectly describes getting angry and upset about nonexistent problems in order to perpeutate a numpty agenda.

Even if the club were to calculate exact numbers of attendees and publish this, how would anyone benefit?

The only thing I can think of is that it will encourage the likes of bw2 to say

"See, our club is shit and the fans are fickle. There were over 30,000 at St Mary's. They are clearly a much bigger club than us. We need to sign a new striker or this club will be playing in league 1 again where, frankly, a club with such a low attendance deserves to be playing. Potter simply doesn't inspire a loyal support. Barber out."

Betwetters. Fact.

 

[Superphil]

The last time I tried, a few years back, it was rejected as the club don't want the details shared for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

Someone did manage to get an FOI on this answered once many years ago (it would take a lot of searching on here to find it now), but all recent requests have been declined as far as I'm aware.

I got one once after a game v Blackburn. The council told me that it didn't register a record for every single games' attendance, but that they did on an ad-hoc basis, I think to check the club was complying with its H&S/Planning regulations or something to that effect. As it happened, they did have the figures for the Blackburn game which were something like 15/16K IIRC, the stated attendance at the game was around 24/25K.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

When our debt is millions the additional income to the club from one or two more pies sold is below negligible. The real value in not having empty seats is to enhance the 'Matchday Experience'. Empty seats just look poor on TV; at the Oscars apparently they employ people to sit in the seats if people vacate them for any reason so that when the TV cameras pan over the crowd it's always full. A full Amex gives the impression that, wow, watching the Albion is THE thing to do. Everybody else does it, I don't want to miss out, so I must go there / come back here. It's one of the reasons why they announce the 'attendance' as tickets sold, to big themselves up. Empty seats and low 'attendance' give the impression that it's not that fashionable and you start to wonder why. Perhaps the tickets are over-priced?

First, is this really a new thing? My next door neighbour when we were kids was a season ticket holder in the West stand at the Goldstone. Do you seriously imagine that the club docked a bum on seat when tallying attendance if he failed to show for a game?

The difference between then and now (the apparent change in the gulf between the attendance and pretendance) is almost certainly down to the massive increase in season ticket holders since we moved to the Amex as others have noted. We have over 20,000. I note that Palace were cock-a-hoop when they sold 5,000 STs a few seasons ago. I recall we had the tenth highest number of season ticket holders in the English game before we made it to the EPL.

So, back to the idea this is a marketting strategy, an evil plot and cunning plan by the sinister Barber and shadowy Bloom.

Let us imagine you are a bloke (this definitely doesn't apply to women, who are far more sensible and don't care about such nonsense). Does anyone seriously think that having watched us on MOTD, a bloke's decision whether or not to be a Brighton fan will be down to whether the attendance is reported in the Mail on Sunday as 24,000 or 31,000?

Equally, does anyone seriously think that a bloke determines his allegiance based on whether the ground 'looks half empty'?

And, most ludicrously, does anyone think that a bloke selects the team he wants to support based on the Mail on Sunday reported attendance despite the fact the ground looked half empty on MOTD? Perhaps they do. Perhaps this is why the streets of Manchester, Peterborough and Croydon are awash with young men, probably with hipster beards, wearing the latest bit of Albion merch, just like the kids on the streets of Siagon in their ManU shirts. (That's triple European Cup winners, Manu, home of Bobby Chartlon, Georgie Best and the Munich air disaster; as if a bit of lying about attendances will offset that in the minds of merch-buyers).

Christ. I know that some people would believe their own mother was the beast with the number 666 if they read it in the Mail, but....

If the club has become addicted to the pretendance over bums on seats it is either the consequence of serendipity or neglect. If I am desperate to know the real attendance I'd take screen shots from the game and count the buggers.

However I have already selected my allegiance and won't be swayed by such piffle.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Why was the actual attendance so low? :

We don't have as many STH as previously (no longer a waiting list and club have been pushing STs all summer)

Inability to easily pass on STs to friends etc. (yes it can be done but there is a cost/hassle involved)

COVID concerns

Match day ticket prices are too high

Game on TV (add in no Uni parking and for some long distance fans that's an issue)

5.30 kick off

It was Watford - who had a pretty poor following for a close (ish) game.

August - holiday time.

 

[Wozza]

For those of us (well, just me and Tim Carder, I suppose) who actually like to record such things, the change IS problematic. I, for one, would like to know what the actual, true attendance figure is from the game so I can meaningfully compare it with attendance figures from yesteryear (without having to add an annoying asterisk to my records).

Wait, you want Brighton & Hove Albion to regularly reduce their public stated crowd figure - to the detriment of commerical activity, for starters - for the benefit of a handful of... (ok, I'll be polite) hobbyists?

Good luck with that.

 

[amexer]

I can understand if club has sold 29k tickets this is given as the figure. However think club should be concerned only 23/24k attended and want to find out why. Appreciate some would be Covid concerns. However I rang a couple of friends that I normally see to ask if still had ST. Both said yes but ,couldnt go and unable to pass ticket on and unable to put on ticket x. Were not willing to pay to go on share scheme as will miss very few games and anyway didnt know who they would give ticket to. This is same I heard from neighbour whos wife was ill.
Minimum club needs to do is to allow ST to be passed on for free max of say 3 times and after that will be a small admin charge

 

[perseus]

That is what I am thinking, every other ground seemed packed last week and this week, yet again The Amex had a lot of empty seats and yet again people say it's holidays, so do only Brighton fans take holidays in August.
Fans of other clubs were obviously busting at the seams to get back into the stadiums to watch live football, except Brighton fans.
I can only think of 3 reasons why.
1. They are sensible and did not want to risk Covid infection.
2. They were all at farmshops buying sausages.
3. They don't give a shit, it was only Watford and it was on TV.
It is a shame that the camera faces the East lower but it should have been full, notwithstanding Covid, embarrassing really.

Alternative season tickets did NOT arrive. What were the trains like for spreading disease?

 

[Bozza]

If you said just over 22000, you were correct.

If I had to bet on a range, I'd have gone 22-23k, although I wouldn't have been surprised if it were as low as 20k.

As I said, I was highly confident that it would be well below the 25k that many thought.

 

[sydney]

I can understand if club has sold 29k tickets this is given as the figure. However think club should be concerned only 23/24k attended and want to find out why. Appreciate some would be Covid concerns. However I rang a couple of friends that I normally see to ask if still had ST. Both said yes but ,couldnt go and unable to pass ticket on and unable to put on ticket x. Were not willing to pay to go on share scheme as will miss very few games and anyway didnt know who they would give ticket to. This is same I heard from neighbour whos wife was ill.
Minimum club needs to do is to allow ST to be passed on for free max of say 3 times and after that will be a small admin charge

yes ...small admin charge being less than 5/6 quid....the ticket has already been paid for at sth rate so the one off rate just needs to be balanced , more fans, less empty seats , everybody happy.

 

[Brovion]

First, is this really a new thing? My next door neighbour when we were kids was a season ticket holder in the West stand at the Goldstone. Do you seriously imagine that the club docked a bum on seat when tallying attendance if he failed to show for a game?

The difference between then and now (the apparent change in the gulf between the attendance and pretendance) is almost certainly down to the massive increase in season ticket holders since we moved to the Amex as others have noted. We have over 20,000. I note that Palace were cock-a-hoop when they sold 5,000 STs a few seasons ago. I recall we had the tenth highest number of season ticket holders in the English game before we made it to the EPL.

So, back to the idea this is a marketting strategy, an evil plot and cunning plan by the sinister Barber and shadowy Bloom.

Let us imagine you are a bloke (this definitely doesn't apply to women, who are far more sensible and don't care about such nonsense). Does anyone seriously think that having watched us on MOTD, a bloke's decision whether or not to be a Brighton fan will be down to whether the attendance is reported in the Mail on Sunday as 24,000 or 31,000?

Equally, does anyone seriously think that a bloke determines his allegiance based on whether the ground 'looks half empty'?

And, most ludicrously, does anyone think that a bloke selects the team he wants to support based on the Mail on Sunday reported attendance despite the fact the ground looked half empty on MOTD? Perhaps they do. Perhaps this is why the streets of Manchester, Peterborough and Croydon are awash with young men, probably with hipster beards, wearing the latest bit of Albion merch, just like the kids on the streets of Siagon in their ManU shirts. (That's triple European Cup winners, Manu, home of Bobby Chartlon, Georgie Best and the Munich air disaster; as if a bit of lying about attendances will offset that in the minds of merch-buyers).

Christ. I know that some people would believe their own mother was the beast with the number 666 if they read it in the Mail, but....

If the club has become addicted to the pretendance over bums on seats it is either the consequence of serendipity or neglect. If I am desperate to know the real attendance I'd take screen shots from the game and count the buggers.

However I have already selected my allegiance and won't be swayed by such piffle.

Eh? I'm not sure what I said that warranted such a lengthy rant, I simply said that empty seats don't look good on TV and the club should do what they can to make sure they're filled. It's part of the marketing psychology, along with saying that the attendance is the tickets sold as that is always the higher figure. Big it up!

Also it was absolutely nothing to do with 'allegiance' and everything to do with (re)enthusing part-time and/or fairweather and/or lapsed fans to want to buy (more) tickets. But also yes, make it look exciting for newcomers to the area or people who for various reasons haven't been to a match before but fancy trying the Premier League football experience. Make the Amex the place to be.

I have 'fallen' for this approach myself as in club Rugby Union I'm a plastic Munster fan. The sole reason for that is back in the 1990s watching their games on a Friday night the camera would pan round the crowd at Thomond Park. It was old-fashioned terraces (I think it's been re-developed since), they were packed and everybody looked like they were having a great time. I remember thinking, blimey I wish I was there. And like all true plastics of course I've never been!

 

[Giraffe]

I forecast it would be 22,000-23,000. I'm sticking to that. Easily 8,000 available seats.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Eh? I'm not sure what I said that warranted such a lengthy rant, I simply said that empty seats don't look good on TV and the club should do what they can to make sure they're filled. It's part of the marketing psychology, along with saying that the attendance is the tickets sold as that is always the higher figure. Big it up!

Also it was absolutely nothing to do with 'allegiance' and everything to do with (re)enthusing part-time and/or fairweather and/or lapsed fans to want to buy (more) tickets. But also yes, make it look exciting for newcomers to the area or people who for various reasons haven't been to a match before but fancy trying the Premier League football experience. Make the Amex the place to be.

I have 'fallen' for this approach myself as in club Rugby Union I'm a plastic Munster fan. The sole reason for that is back in the 1990s watching their games on a Friday night the camera would pan round the crowd at Thomond Park. It was old-fashioned terraces (I think it's been re-developed since), they were packed and everybody looked like they were having a great time. I remember thinking, blimey I wish I was there. And like all true plastics of course I've never been!

Very little justification can trigger a rant from me. Very little justification indeed.

Your musings are reasonable enough, and I suppose my reaction was primarily to the thread itself.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

I forecast it would be 22,000-23,000. I'm sticking to that. Easily 8,000 available seats.

Given I have given you the answer, that isn't much of a forecast.

 

[The Wookiee]

the ticket exchange should allow you to list your ticket for sale even if the game isn’t sold out - really don’t know why this isn’t the case

 

[BN9 BHA]

Sometimes some words are apt. This one perfectly describes getting angry and upset about nonexistent problems in order to perpeutate a numpty agenda.

Even if the club were to calculate exact numbers of attendees and publish this, how would anyone benefit?

The only thing I can think of is that it will encourage the likes of bw2 to say

"See, our club is shit and the fans are fickle. There were over 30,000 at St Mary's. They are clearly a much bigger club than us. We need to sign a new striker or this club will be playing in league 1 again where, frankly, a club with such a low attendance deserves to be playing. Potter simply doesn't inspire a loyal support. Barber out."

Betwetters. Fact.

Bed wetting / bed wetter should be in NSC room 101 in my opinion

 

[BN9 BHA]

When I go down all the leagues looking at scores I then check the attendance then goal scorer ….back in the 70s it’s all there was to do on a Sunday morning!

So for me it’s a stat that for some reason I find interesting?

This.
There was a guess the attendance thread last week before Saturday’s match and I posted something similar.

 

[SAC]

the ticket exchange should allow you to list your ticket for sale even if the game isn’t sold out - really don’t know why this isn’t the case

£££££££££££££

The club are not going to let people sell their unused tickets until they have sold their unsold tickets. I can understand this more than I can understand the clamp down on sharing a season ticket but that's a subject that has been done to death.

 

[BN9 BHA]

£££££££££££££

The club are not going to let people sell their unused tickets until they have sold their unsold tickets. I can understand this more than I can understand the clamp down on sharing a season ticket but that's a subject that has been done to death.

Just a thought.
If the unsold tickets are maybe in an area that isn’t popular, next to the divide in the SW corner for example, maybe an unused season ticket would be easier to sell in a popular area.

Apologies if this has been mentioned elsewhere.

 

[White Fan man]

Correct!
I'll tell you what though, I would rather be in a 3/4 full Amex because of Covid and still watch a live game, than being squeezed into Bellend Road with all those pissed up, cocky Leeds fans.
Christ's chin, I watch that last night and could not think of anywhere else I would rather not be, talk about look at us first season (delayed) over the top celebrating.

Really? Football is a passion and Leeds fans have been passionate as long as I have been going there (since '94) Ever since Bielsa turned up and that first Stoke game was on tv, the ground has been full. We had 40,000 members trying to buy the 10,000 non-season tickets for this match. The league cup game against Crewe tonight sold out as well. With Bielsa you get entertaining football win, lose or draw.
If we stay in the Premier League there are plans to increase to 60k. The demand is there.

 

[*Gullsworth*]

Really? Football is a passion and Leeds fans have been passionate as long as I have been going there (since '94) Ever since Bielsa turned up and that first Stoke game was on tv, the ground has been full. We had 40,000 members trying to buy the 10,000 non-season tickets for this match. The league cup game against Crewe tonight sold out as well. With Bielsa you get entertaining football win, lose or draw.
If we stay in the Premier League there are plans to increase to 60k. The demand is there.

Majority of fans on here would admit Leeds are a big club with massive & passionate support. Many have pointed out that Leeds have had the most vocal away support at The Amex. We are not in the same category of support in numbers or passion but we do relatively well considering the size of the club. Fans of rival clubs often give little credit to 'bigger' clubs for example not many Leeds fans would admit to the level of support given by Liverpool or Man U fans.