BiggerBladeThanThou
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- Oct 31, 2015
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I’ve seen it thrown around like some badge of shame on Football Away Days, other fan forums, Porktalk etc. “They didn’t even sell out!” as if failing to fill every seat in a stadium somehow invalidates a club’s performance, progress, or support. It’s about time we talk about how irrelevant and overblown this obsession with selling out has become.
Let’s start with the obvious, football is about what happens on the pitch, not in the stands. A club can grind out results, build a solid team, and climb the table with empty seats in the background. You don’t get extra points for a sold out crowd. And let’s be honest, some fans of a nearby opposition club only turn up when the team is winning or a “big name” opponent like Sheffield United or even Peterborough United rolls into town.
Second, there are tons of reasons why a match might not sell out - awkward kickoff times, rising ticket prices, televised games, travel costs, midweek scheduling, weather, or just plain life getting in the way. Not everyone has the luxury of dropping everything to be there in person every time.
Then there’s this weird superiority complex some nearby opposition clubs and fanbases have over attendances. It’s turned into a numbers game, as if you’re a lesser club because your ground wasn’t at 100% capacity for a Tuesday night match in February. Since when did empty seats define the soul of a football club? I think I know why, since fans of a nearby opposition club had nothing else to shout and get excited about. That’s why.
We should be praising the people who do show up, week in, week out, not shaming those who can’t. And we should definitely stop pretending a club’s legitimacy or status hinges on ticket sales - more and more of our fan base are becoming infected by the porcine’s obsession virus.
Let’s focus less on the optics and more on the substance. Passion isn’t measured by the turnstile clicker and we all know when the Lane is rocking, it’s rocking but that’s often organic and raw.
And while we’re at it, let’s give credit where it’s due, our support, both home and away, has been consistently outstanding across multiple seasons, in both the Premier League and Championship and even League One. BDTBL has regularly been near capacity regardless of form, and the away following has been among the loudest and best-travelled in the country.
Let’s start with the obvious, football is about what happens on the pitch, not in the stands. A club can grind out results, build a solid team, and climb the table with empty seats in the background. You don’t get extra points for a sold out crowd. And let’s be honest, some fans of a nearby opposition club only turn up when the team is winning or a “big name” opponent like Sheffield United or even Peterborough United rolls into town.
Second, there are tons of reasons why a match might not sell out - awkward kickoff times, rising ticket prices, televised games, travel costs, midweek scheduling, weather, or just plain life getting in the way. Not everyone has the luxury of dropping everything to be there in person every time.
Then there’s this weird superiority complex some nearby opposition clubs and fanbases have over attendances. It’s turned into a numbers game, as if you’re a lesser club because your ground wasn’t at 100% capacity for a Tuesday night match in February. Since when did empty seats define the soul of a football club? I think I know why, since fans of a nearby opposition club had nothing else to shout and get excited about. That’s why.
We should be praising the people who do show up, week in, week out, not shaming those who can’t. And we should definitely stop pretending a club’s legitimacy or status hinges on ticket sales - more and more of our fan base are becoming infected by the porcine’s obsession virus.
Let’s focus less on the optics and more on the substance. Passion isn’t measured by the turnstile clicker and we all know when the Lane is rocking, it’s rocking but that’s often organic and raw.
And while we’re at it, let’s give credit where it’s due, our support, both home and away, has been consistently outstanding across multiple seasons, in both the Premier League and Championship and even League One. BDTBL has regularly been near capacity regardless of form, and the away following has been among the loudest and best-travelled in the country.
