Attendances in the 80s

[1973Blade]

I was interested reading on this forum recently the huge numbers we took to away matches during our season in the Fourth Division, including 7000 to Peterborough. Yet our attendances at home, compared with today weren't great, I think we averaged 16,000 that season.
In the mid 80s we were getting crowds of around 8000. I was only young but I don't remember standing on an empty kop. Yet some of the gates were similar to the crowd in our Cup Game against Leyton Orient when the Kop was shut.
One game in particular stands out, Port Vale at home in 1989 when the Kop was packed it was difficult to move (the Kop was all standing and this was pre Hillsborough, yet the crowd was given as only 18,878 lower than this season's average.
Gates receipts in those days had to be split with the away team. Just how accurate were these attendances?

 

[Joe Boltons Left Foot]

Hmm let me think that upstanding paragon of business etiquette that was big Reg

 

[Silent Blade]

I was interested reading on this forum recently the huge numbers we took to away matches during our season in the Fourth Division, including 7000 to Peterborough. Yet our attendances at home, compared with today weren't great, I think we averaged 16,000 that season.
In the mid 80s we were getting crowds of around 8000. I was only young but I don't remember standing on an empty kop. Yet some of the gates were similar to the crowd in our Cup Game against Leyton Orient when the Kop was shut.
One game in particular stands out, Port Vale at home in 1989 when the Kop was packed it was difficult to move (the Kop was all standing and this was pre Hillsborough, yet the crowd was given as only 18,878 lower than this season's average.
Gates receipts in those days had to be split with the away team. Just how accurate were these attendances?

When John Thurman was our Chief Executive 17 years ago, he found several turnstiles in the Kop had had the cables cut so there was no way of knowing how many had gone through?

Those turnstile operators must have been driving some right motors. Always used to think they must be on the take, piles and piles of fivers and tenners stacked high on the counter.

 

[1973Blade]

When John Thurman was our Chief Executive 17 years ago, he found several turnstiles in the Kop had had the cables cut so there was no way of knowing how many had gone through?

Those turnstile operators must have been driving some right motors. Always used to think they must be on the take, piles and piles of fivers and tenners stacked high on the counter.

No wonder we were always short of money!

 

[jes]

In the early/mid eighties our crowds were relatively brilliant, Big clubs like Everton,Villa ,Newcastle and Citeh regularly got 15k and even less, Spurs and Arsenal were getting far less than 30k for a Standard game, Chelsea, Sunderland plenty under 10k and Wolves and Glasgow Rangers got 4k often so us to average 14.5 or so in bottom league with no away supporters was amazing. One night we had a bigger home crowd than Liverpool I seem to remember. Anyway Hello Im new on here and can't wait for BR tomorrow night. UTB FTP

 

[Silent Blade]

No wonder we were always short of money!

Soon after that all home matches were ticket only to prevent fraud like this

 

[1973Blade]

In the early/mid eighties our crowds were relatively brilliant, Big clubs like Everton,Villa ,Newcastle and Citeh regularly got 15k and even less, Spurs and Arsenal were getting far less than 30k for a Standard game, Chelsea, Sunderland plenty under 10k and Wolves and Glasgow Rangers got 4k often so us to average 14.5 or so in bottom league with no away supporters was amazing. One night we had a bigger home crowd than Liverpool I seem to remember. Anyway Hello Im new on here and can't wait for BR tomorrow night. UTB FTP

Welcome fellow Blade! Glad you chose my thread to introduce yourself

 

[Seanshoreham]

In the early/mid eighties our crowds were relatively brilliant, Big clubs like Everton,Villa ,Newcastle and Citeh regularly got 15k and even less, Spurs and Arsenal were getting far less than 30k for a Standard game, Chelsea, Sunderland plenty under 10k and Wolves and Glasgow Rangers got 4k often so us to average 14.5 or so in bottom league with no away supporters was amazing. One night we had a bigger home crowd than Liverpool I seem to remember. Anyway Hello Im new on here and can't wait for BR tomorrow night. UTB FTP

only one MASSIVE club bucked the trend - step forward The Pigs with their millions (they lied when they stated gates of 10k)

Remember going to Chelsea for a cup game early nineties, it said in their program that 7k had turned for a previous league home game - v Southampton
The night we got a bigger home gate than Liverpool was v Bradford 1982

 

[away ends always empty.]

Attendances its an unfortunate obssesion of the average football fan ,we just cant help it .having said that i think the pigs are little more obsessed than us.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Don't think Rangers hit 4000 in the eighties, certainly not often. They appear to only had one 4000 attendance. In 1971/72. Wolves did have an average on 4020 in the mid eighties. Which is incredible. We were getting three times that.

 

[metalblade]

You have to consider in 1980 -81 the steel industry in Sheffield was shutting factories left right and centre and the country as a whole was gripped in Maggie's recession plus hooliganism was keeping a lot away so we were not doing too bad attendance wise.