Embarrassing!!

[Trafford]

Not the team (nice change), not the score but the attendance. I can live with being outsung when you have that many fans in the away end but looking across at all the gaps on the Kop and hearing the relative silence in the first half was something that I can't remember experiencing before, even when we went down to the 4th!!

 

[dkc Blade]

It went out live on Fox Soccer across the USA. Sat in the pub in the US someone asked me why the stadium was so empty.

 

[SwissBlade]

Sad state of how things are nowadays, Blades fans just don't seem interested in the FA cup this season, myself included

I must say, I wasn't too fussed about this one, would much rather watch us in the Championship as it was clear that the FA cup isn't a priority. Shame really.

I think this needs addressing by the FA. Perhaps a tenner for FA cup games would be better.

Villa did well to bring so many.

 

[Paulus]

I really don't think you can blame the club's pricing for this match. Plenty of Blade's fans seem to have a terminal case of apathy though. You're right, today's turnout was pathetic.

 

[Worksop II]

It went out live on Fox Soccer across the USA. Sat in the pub in the US someone asked me why the stadium was so empty.

Did you tell him its because you were sat in the USA and not BDTBL

 

[kelham blade]

We only got about 14000 the last time they came in the FA Cup back in 2005. It was live on BBC and also televised in China where I living at the time.

I remember emailing all my blades friends, furious about the attendance back then.

Despite all the promise that was shown between then and now, little has changed.

The cycle is on its umpteenth spin and we are back where we were searching for a miracle and the chance of putting a squad together for a brief season in the top division.

Only this time we didn't have a man-of-the-match in the shape of Andy Liddell.

 

[shorehamview]

FA Cup 3rd round attendances when we've been drawn at home since 2002

2002 - Nottingham Forest - 14,696

2003 - Cheltenham - 9,166

2004 - Away

2005 - Aston Villa - 14,003

2006 - Colchester - 11,820

2007 - Swansea - 15,896

2008 - Away

2009 - Away

2010 - QPR - 11,461


So the attendance for Villa of 16,888 is in fact the highest for a 3rd round home tie in nine years. Now, Villa brought a more than healthy sum, so what does that show us?

Well, looking back on the past attendances it seems that many Blades couldn't give a shit about the "magic" of the FA Cup. And why is that? It's soon after Christmas, so money may be tight. It's in January, so you can more or less guarantee that it's going to be cold.

Is it down to ticket prices? Possibly. Aren't ticket prices for the FA Cup decided by the FA? And don't the opponents get a share of the gate receipts regardless of the size of their support?

So why the poor crowd against Villa this year? I reckon it's not got much to do with the current state of the club - after all, we'd be mad as hatters to blame the state of the club in 2011 when buying tickets in any of the previous years. I think it's entirely down to simply not being arsed. As simple as that. Even a bigger club like Villa didn't sell all their tickets, and they get a much bigger crowd than United - average 37,139 this season, and they're not that far away.

I reckon the third round of the FA Cup is viewed in a similar way by a lot of fans of "middling" clubs like ours. Donny - 8,616 v Wolves. Scunny - 7,028 v Everton. Hull - 10,433 v Wigan, for three examples of clubs from the Championship playing top-flight opposition. Even Sunderland, a Premier League side with a tradition of big crowds, especially against opponents that they reckon they'll beat, had only 17,582 for their match against Notts County, which for a side that averages 38,565 this season isn't too good.

No, I don't think it's Sheffield United's fault that our attendance was only the highest home 3rd round tie for the last nine years. But the figure, a small one, may well be down to the FA Cup having lost a lot of it's magic.


Attendances for 3rd round matches for Sheffield United taken from OS. Attendances for 2011 matches taken from BBC football. Average attendance figures taken from itvstats.football365.com

 

[Torrix1889]

Hopefully it will give McCabe a smack in the chops that this could become regular, (in fact probably a very good attendance) if he doesn't back Micky and we drop into the third tier.

He would have lost 10,000 fans in less than 5 years, a whole generation could have been lost and that takes a hell of a long time to replace.

Or is 10K a true reflection of our "fickle/floating/glory hunting" fan base?

 

[grafikhaus]

...
So the attendance for Villa of 16,888 is in fact the highest for a 3rd round home tie in nine years. Now, Villa brought a more than healthy sum, so what does that show us?

Etc, etc.

All very true. We were no different to Sunderland whose large stadium was mostly-empty, the home fans were outsung by the away fans (Notts County, not Aston Villa) and so on.

I dragged myself along figuring that seeing Villa for £12 was a better proposition than most of the dross in our division.

I also went with a 'what the hell' attitude, feeling that as long as we weren't humiliated and we gave a good account of ourselves, so what? We weren't, and we did. Likewise, it isn't the end of the world going out at this stage - we've got far more important fixtures coming up.

No, I felt far, far worse in 2003 when we were (ahem) denied in both semis. The further you go, the worse it feels when it all ends.

 

[gavtheblade]

Personally,i think the games going out of fashion,dont know why but a lot of my friends who are not all blades agree that`football`as a whole is not as exciting as it used to be,so if thats the case then why should we spend our hard earned reddies on it.

 

[JohnDenver]

The loss of appeal of the FA Cup is just a reflection of how money influences the sport. Having paid over 400 quid to watch league games I think twice about spending anything more.

Also, the stratification of the leagues by financial muscle has a two-fold effect. Firstly, the bigger clubs don't care as much (Newcastle were a disgrace last night), and secondly the smaller clubs have little chance if the big boys actually decide to turn up. The romance has been dying since Sky rode into town and we all sold out to this arrangement.

This is why we love seeing Blackpool do so well. It's a hark back to the old days where anyone had a chance if they did things right.

 

[super_pig]

> Personally,i think the games going out of fashion
i think there is a lot of truth in that.. the corporates have wrung every cent out the fans whilst at the same time the H and S monkeys and middle class part timers have rung all of the fun out of it and we're getting sick of it.. interestingly the only place where football is growing is germany where they still have terraces, sing songs, drink beer etc.. coincidence?

 

[Muttley]

100% agree super pig. It has gone out of fashion with me, something I NEVER thought it would. Money has (for me anyway) ruined the sport as a whole. Overpaid mercenaries, very few actually having any genuine allegiance to the club they play for. The corporate crap, and screwing every last cent out of the genuine supporter, the fact that football is now "big business" and not really a true sport. Sheffield United is no longer a football club, it's a business, and that for me hasbeen strangling the love of the game out of me.

 

[raul]

The loss of appeal of the FA Cup is just a reflection of how money influences the sport. Having paid over 400 quid to watch league games I think twice about spending anything more.

Also, the stratification of the leagues by financial muscle has a two-fold effect. Firstly, the bigger clubs don't care as much (Newcastle were a disgrace last night), and secondly the smaller clubs have little chance if the big boys actually decide to turn up. The romance has been dying since Sky rode into town and we all sold out to this arrangement.

This is why we love seeing Blackpool do so well. It's a hark back to the old days where anyone had a chance if they did things right.

WAs discussing along these lines with a Villa fan on the walk back to the pub afterwards. Despite the apathy shown by the big 4, they've still won the thing between them for something ike 17 of the past 18 years, but what excuse do the likes of (yesterday) Sunderland and Newcastle have to take it so casually? It represents the only realistic chance of winning something for those type of clubs. I'd be furious if I was a fan of one of the nearly bigs who just didn't give a flying one about the only thing they could ever win.

The FA Cups got no chance of being big again whilever this attitude prevails.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

Not the team (nice change), not the score but the attendance. I can live with being outsung when you have that many fans in the away end but looking across at all the gaps on the Kop and hearing the relative silence in the first half was something that I can't remember experiencing before, even when we went down to the 4th!!

We had one of the better crowds yesterday, even allowing for the good away support. It's more about the general apathy towards early round cup games rather than anything to do with United.

 

[marshy]

I have just found myself not being bothered this season - didn't get an ST and have been to 3 games.

A lot of it is due to being too busy as I've now got my own business, but on the occassions I could possibly have gone, I just couldn't be arsed. Struggle to even muster the enthusiasm to listen on Blades Player

 

[Large Mendonca]

I work shifts in a job where it is not easy to get annual leave,so do not own a season ticket as i can only get to so many games a season. For pay on the day, the club whacked up prices massively in a recession. The club obviously dont pay much regard for people like me, so balls to em frankly.

Yesterday?? it was on the internet. Money's tight and people make their decisions accordingly.

 

[JohnDenver]

WAs discussing along these lines with a Villa fan on the walk back to the pub afterwards. Despite the apathy shown by the big 4, they've still won the thing between them for something ike 17 of the past 18 years, but what excuse do the likes of (yesterday) Sunderland and Newcastle have to take it so casually? It represents the only realistic chance of winning something for those type of clubs. I'd be furious if I was a fan of one of the nearly bigs who just didn't give a flying one about the only thing they could ever win.

The FA Cups got no chance of being big again whilever this attitude prevails.

Agree with that - the clubs have devalued the cup themselves. We're no different. It's just a rational business decision to compete where the returns are better.

 

[broomhillblade]

It's definitely not just us:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...rters-gone---Fans-stay-home-FA-Cup-round.html

 

[Rattly Noise]

No big shock then. A bit of a non-story when you look at the facts.

 

[Revolution]

So the attendance for Villa of 16,888 is in fact the highest for a 3rd round home tie in nine years. Now, Villa brought a more than healthy sum, so what does that show us?

Good post, that, Shorehamview.

I checked further back, it turns out that the last time United pulled in a bigger crowd for a 3rd round game was 1996, when we beat Arsenal 1-0 in a replay in front of over 22,000. This is hardly a recent phenomenon.

 

[Grecian2000]

They might as well dump the cup competitions now.

All the clubs care about is getiing, and staying, in the PL because of the money it brings in. Far better, apparently, to finish 14-17 in the top flight than ever actually win anything. It is a pitiful state for the game to be in.

Simple solution? FA Cup Winners to be granted the 4th Champions League spot ahead of the team of losers who finish a distant 4th in the League. Runner up a spot in the UEFA Cup.

 

[Tuns]

It's a red herring that it's all because the FA Cup has lost it's magic.

Certainly that is partly the case.

But imagine if we had no ST holders (yes I know it's not that hard to imagine) and an avergae league match with us say mid table in the Championship was on Saturday against Reading at home.

Everyone has to either buy a ticket (putting aside the issue this will involve a trip to the ticket office, paying for a premium rate call, or by somehow working out how to buy online).

Estimates on what the attendance would be? I reckon about 12,000 in good weather and maybe 9 or 10,000 if it's pissing down and cold in the days leading up to the game.

Which is why, and I may have mentioned this once or twice before, that clubs depend so much on their ST sales. If you don;t get a fan to buy a ST then don't expect many of them to pay on the day even if you are top of the league.

So slash your ST prices/come up with imaginative packages or accept half empty stadiums for years to come.