Has Our Local Fanbase Grown?

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5tannington Blade

5tannington Blade

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Our average attendance this season is set to be the highest we've had in the 2nd tier for at least 35 years. We're averaging nearly 2000 more than the first season in the championship after we got relegated under Warnock, we're also currently beating the attendances we had in the championship promotion season with Wilder. Our average will probably dip slightly as we've had to get games re-scheduled for midweek which always tend to get lower attendances but it's still slightly strange the large crowds we've been getting.

Possible theories:

  • The hunger to return to football matches after a long absence due to covid
  • High prices for matchday tickets meaning the season ticket prices were more attractive - meaning more people at more games than they'd normally attend
  • The prospect of a very expensive squad playing at a division lower with a 'proven' promotion winning manager looked like we were set for a good season
  • Or the fanbase has gradually grown after an extended period of time playing good football during the Wilder years.
  • Any other theories?
I don't want to turn into a Wednesday fan and care much about this sort of thing. But I just know if we're the top supported club in this division that will only help us financially and try and set us apart from the rest of the pack (I appreciate it doesn't work out like that).

Anyone have any other theories why this might be and has our fanbase grown or is it all purely down to a set of circumstances from covid etc?
 



Agree our crowds have held up very well.

One factor I guess is the Covid hiatus and people missing attending games. Plus season ticket prices are very competitive imho.

Not meaning to be argumentative but I think it must be longer than 35 years as our crowds in 1987 were quite low by comparison.
 
One of the reasons for higher attendances is counting all season ticket holders as attending, when it is patently obvious that they do not. This started a few years ago and we have jumped on the bandwagon. There is no way that the attendance declared tonight will accurately reflect the number of people attending.
 
Although I am far from a McCabe fan, one of the things he did get right was the pricing structure at the lane for many years. Together with other initiatives (free ticket giveaways etc) this attracted many a kid and young adult to the lane. I'm really happy to see these days at the lane many young and female fans.

The Porkers shot themselves in the trotter, lets just hope that the Prince doesn't follow their example
🤞
 
Our general average attendances seemed to increase around the early 2000's. When I first started going in the very early 80's a crowd of 15,000 would have been a good turn out, and we got about 7k for a second level league game v Crystal Palace in 1987.

There are probably a number of reasons for it. When we had the old turnstiles and you could still pay in cash, it was rumoured that (shock horror) United were, allegedly, not publishing the full attendance figures to save on tax. It's also possible that some of the turnstile operators were not handing over all the takings.

The economy in Sheffield is also probably better, less unemployment, folks on comparably higher earnings. The 80's were obviously a period of stagnation in Sheffield with the Steel and Mining industries rapidly declining.

Something I'd not thought of before, but in TC's book he makes a good point that the Football in the Community programme probably increased United's fanbase. A lot of those kids probably ended up being Blades. Certainly I think United have been much better at marketing and attracting young fans than our massive neighbours have in the last 20 years.

We've also had a modicum of success, cup runs, appearances at Wembley, and promotion to the Premier League twice in the last 20 years.
 
Eddiecolquhounsleg said:
One of the reasons for higher attendances is counting all season ticket holders as attending, when it is patently obvious that they do not. This started a few years ago and we have jumped on the bandwagon. There is no way that the attendance declared tonight will accurately reflect the number of people attending.
Click to expand...
...but the point is all those who are “attending” will have paid even if they are not physically there, so in terms of finance we remain well placed.
I assume for fire and safety reasons the club can tell how many have actually passed through a turnstile.
 
sufcboy95 said:
I think the share within the city is certainly moving towards us. Certainly compared to where it was 20+ years ago
Click to expand...

I agree 100% with this.

It started for me in the very early in the 00's - a few things, lets chuck in McCabe/Warnock/The team at that time plus the start of the demise of the massive.

We created the academy in the early 00's too which started the ball rolling with younger kids & bringing a decent set up to Sheffield youngsters.

Pricing structure has always been very good.

As for the future, and pushing on - cat 1 academy and to become the ONLY place in South Yorkshire to send promising youngsters. Capture that market and in 20/30 years time, and yes, it will take that, then Sheffield might be judged as a city that has 2 professional football clubs but spoken in terms like Bristol and Nottingham with 1 big one and 1 not so.

It can happen - depends whether our club has the vision to make it happen.

UTB
 
Davalon said:
Agree our crowds have held up very well.

One factor I guess is the Covid hiatus and people missing attending games. Plus season ticket prices are very competitive imho.

Not meaning to be argumentative but I think it must be longer than 35 years as our crowds in 1987 were quite low by comparison.
Click to expand...
I'm fairly sure championship crowds are generally significantly down this season, so the covid angle doesn't seem to explain it.
 



alcoblade said:
I'm fairly sure championship crowds are generally significantly down this season, so the covid angle doesn't seem to explain it.
Click to expand...

It does in that the season tickets from 2019-20 were allowed to be used towards discount for this season. Many people held the cash in the club expecting discount from a PL season. When we got relegated, they could either take the discount or walk away from it

As far as I'm aware - once you told the club your decision, that was your only option when crowds eventually returned?
 
Pricing structure especially for kids going right back to when we first got in Premier League under Warnock. My son is 23 years old This is the first season he has (or me to be more precise) has had to pay the full adult price for a season ticket. Letting youngsters in cheap creates blades fans for life and we are seeing the benefit of it. I hope we keep doing it
 
Snake said:
Although I am far from a McCabe fan, one of the things he did get right was the pricing structure at the lane for many years. Together with other initiatives (free ticket giveaways etc) this attracted many a kid and young adult to the lane. I'm really happy to see these days at the lane many young and female fans.

The Porkers shot themselves in the trotter, lets just hope that the Prince doesn't follow their example
🤞
Click to expand...
I agree mate encouraging the kids some years ago is now paying off. Rather than screwing fans for every penny like a certain club not far away we have started to reap the rewards for encouraging them at the Lane while they are young. Long term planning is now paying off. Ripping fans off making families to think twice about weather they can afford to turn up is very shortsighted . Once they have lost the habit you have a up hill task getting them back. Hope the prince understands that some fans are going to find it hard to take all the family in these days of rocketing prices.
 
Despite outbreaks of anti social behaviour at football around the country this season the overall general behaviour of supporters has generally improved over the decades which probably makes the attendance at matches of female fans more likely. Less overtly racist behaviour of fans has made it a less intimidating place for minorities and as a city centre club perhaps we are benefitting from more inclusivity. I think improved ground facilities have helped, again especially for females.

Ultimately though I think it’s down to the product on the pitch. The good transport links and facilities around Bramall Lane, number of pubs etc make it an attractive proposition. Compare what we have with that soulless wasteland to the north of the city I mean, come on… They do have good Supertram links though ..arf arf.
 
Eddiecolquhounsleg said:
One of the reasons for higher attendances is counting all season ticket holders as attending, when it is patently obvious that they do not. This started a few years ago and we have jumped on the bandwagon. There is no way that the attendance declared tonight will accurately reflect the number of people attending.
Click to expand...
Well I‘ve always been pretty good at estimating attendances from my seat and I‘d say the figures reflect those actually in attendance. If you’re correct I don’t see it being a massive amount of season ticket holders not attending, certainly not enough to claim it as ‘obvious’

In fact if you think about it we have 25000 season ticket holders and we have consistently hovered around the 26-28k mark which I’d suggest is more to do with the variance in the away support.
 
Eddiecolquhounsleg said:
One of the reasons for higher attendances is counting all season ticket holders as attending, when it is patently obvious that they do not. This started a few years ago and we have jumped on the bandwagon. There is no way that the attendance declared tonight will accurately reflect the number of people attending.
Click to expand...

But they have already paid for their seat, so they rightly should be counted.
 
Davalon said:
Not meaning to be argumentative but I think it must be longer than 35 years as our crowds in 1987 were quite low by comparison.
Click to expand...


Pre 2007-8 season to find us averaging over 27,000 in the second division you have to go back to 1952-3. (31185).

In truth, over the course of our history until the last 15 years we have usually averaged below 20,000 when in the second division.
 
hardytm2004 said:
Our average attendance this season is set to be the highest we've had in the 2nd tier for at least 35 years.
Click to expand...
At the moment, it's the highest in the 2nd tier for a Sheffield club in 69 years (when we averaged 31,027 in 1953).
 
Birmingham's attendances are shocking in comparison to the size if the city .
 
hardytm2004 said:
Our average attendance this season is set to be the highest we've had in the 2nd tier for at least 35 years. We're averaging nearly 2000 more than the first season in the championship after we got relegated under Warnock, we're also currently beating the attendances we had in the championship promotion season with Wilder. Our average will probably dip slightly as we've had to get games re-scheduled for midweek which always tend to get lower attendances but it's still slightly strange the large crowds we've been getting.

Possible theories:

  • The hunger to return to football matches after a long absence due to covid
  • High prices for matchday tickets meaning the season ticket prices were more attractive - meaning more people at more games than they'd normally attend
  • The prospect of a very expensive squad playing at a division lower with a 'proven' promotion winning manager looked like we were set for a good season
  • Or the fanbase has gradually grown after an extended period of time playing good football during the Wilder years.
  • Any other theories?
I don't want to turn into a Wednesday fan and care much about this sort of thing. But I just know if we're the top supported club in this division that will only help us financially and try and set us apart from the rest of the pack (I appreciate it doesn't work out like that).

Anyone have any other theories why this might be and has our fanbase grown or is it all purely down to a set of circumstances from covid etc?
Click to expand...
Attendances v actual people who attend are 2 different things ... Im sure club say all season tickets sold plus tickets sold count .... u.mm don't think so ... as useless figures as stewards doing anything ... l.oad of bollox
 
Eddiecolquhounsleg said:
One of the reasons for higher attendances is counting all season ticket holders as attending, when it is patently obvious that they do not. This started a few years ago and we have jumped on the bandwagon. There is no way that the attendance declared tonight will accurately reflect the number of people attending.
Click to expand...
Every club does this. The bottom line is we have the best average home attendance in the Championship despite a number of other big teams in the division.
 



Snowflake said:
...but the point is all those who are “attending” will have paid even if they are not physically there, so in terms of finance we remain well placed.
I assume for fire and safety reasons the club can tell how many have actually passed through a turnstile.
Click to expand...
Has this ever been different?

The only reason it matters more these days is more people buy a season ticket, and perhaps more attend less because they can watch it on TV
 
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