Fourth highest attendance outside of the top flight.

[Silent Blade]

Another amazing stat from our stay in the 4th division.

We got 24,400 and odd at home to Bradford on a cold night in February 1982.

The same night European Cup holders and league leaders played Birmingham City in front of their lowest crowd of the season 24,200 and odd.

Imagine any 4th division team getting a bigger gate than the mighty Liverpool who were perennial trophy boys in their glory days of the 80's.

Our away support was legendary that season regularly outnumbering the home support.

March 30th 1982

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I agree about the tripe assault season. Both Leeds games (FA cup and league cup) were fantastic, as was Palace in the League cup quarters when Pesch scored the winner whilst a mile offside and the Forest game needs no description.

I don’t think it’s so much that we revel in adversity but that if we see our lads giving 110% and never giving up (like the triple assault season) we will back them to the hilt. There has been so much frustration since we’ve been down in this league because we’ve been outworked and outfought so many times. I think we, as a group of fans, seem to find that especially unforgivable. Hopefully, Adkins is putting some pride and fight back into our players. Time will tell.

 

[blade too long]

I think our porky’ neighbours’ dominance in the 90s (them being a Prem team) is what made our crowds so low. Since they got relegated in 2000 and spent the following 12 years below us, our gates climbed .

but we are , considering the opposition still matching them
again our boards still kept us relatively cheap to watch
we are not being treated like mugs
the tuna gutters treat their fans like gullable twats , they are I know, but theres no need to take advantage so much

 

[blade too long]

I agree about the tripe assault season.

I thought we were offal that night

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

No great surprise people turn up when you're winning. If we'd lost the first three there would only have been 16,000 against Blackpool.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

I knows it's not a popular thing to say but McCabe has done a lot of good things for the club. He heavily increased attendances and built a good academy. Sure, he's had his fair share of fuck ups and I know we are in the third division but things are looking quite bright right now. Imagine what sort of attendances we could get in the Championship.

Sensiable ticket pricing at the lane does help , as watching football can be a expensive hobby , especially when the family goes . Thankfully we seem to have less arm chair fans , than many other clubs .

Sky and Jeff Stelling , although provide a service , you could say are a route to all evil.

Its a lot to do with the lane being home to all of us.

UTB

 

[Grecian2000]

according to the site 72 that records these stats
wednesday benifitted from 1700 ipswich fans and1184 bristol city fans

See, we're never going to be able to compete if they're getting 1700 fans of a team they're not even playing. That IS MASSIVE!

 

[blade too long]

No great surprise people turn up when you're winning. If we'd lost the first three there would only have been 16,000 against Blackpool.

what you have to place it against is the year we swopped places with wednesday and got back to the top flight under Bassett we only averaged under 17000

we only just squeaked 21000 first full season back

the board have to be praised for getting many more people through the turnstyles since then

 

[blade too long]

See, we're never going to be able to compete if they're getting 1700 fans of a team they're not even playing. That IS MASSIVE!

they took 1700 to ipswich
which is exactly what Reading brought
looked at wrong line sorry

 

[Grecian2000]

they took 1700 to ipswich
which is exactly what Reading brought
looked at wrong line sorry

No apology needed btl. Might not always agree with what you're putting but I do read it!

 

[blade too long]

When you consider that in 1996 our second season back in the championship , when John Street was still flattened we only averaged 12961
to be a division lower now and get nearly twice that figure is testament to some good tempting of fans to come and watch us, especially considering last seasons less than rivetting fare

 

[coaxingstar71]

Could just be a simple as a generation thing. In the 70s my dad went. Last Saturday he had me and his grandson there with him, which triples the number straight away and is probably the case for lots others too.

Hmm, I see what you mean but did your Dad not just take you in the 80's or 90's and did your Dad's Dad go with your Dad in the 60's or 70's? If you mean that Dad's were not so inclined to take their sons due to safety, pricing etc, I'd probably be inclined to agree, although my junior season ticket in the 80's was £24 for 23 games - bargain!

 

[Mad Mick]

Makes me wonder what has been the biggest crowd since I have been Watching the Blades.
I've been a supporter since I was 7 in 1958. I first started going when I was about 13. I've seen 45,000 there when it was 3 sided I think.
Also 60,000 springs to mind, but that could be our all time record. Anyone know the facts?

 

[HighfieldBlade]

I thought we were offal that night

I was gutted.

 

[S64 Blade]

I think one other reason for the upsurge in attendances since the late 90s is also probably the fact that football has become much more of a middle class (and therefore more economically affluent) game. This of course has its downside too, i.e. Clubs being able to keep ticket prices high.

Either way, our attendances are outstanding. The club really need to be really smart and tap into this for the long term to create something even more special.

 

[coaxingstar71]

I honestly think that all home games should be "kids for a quid" for under 16's :-
1. Getting kids interested early should mean most end up Blades - a difficult habit to break! - investing in the future.
2. Would attract more families to games as Dad only has to stump up for one or two full price tickets.
3. Extra revenue from programmes, drinks, food and not to mention shirts etc.
4. Better atmosphere/fuller stadia at games to motivate team.

There's usually at least 8 -10,000 spare seats despite our healthy attendance figures.

 

[Silent Blade]

Makes me wonder what has been the biggest crowd since I have been Watching the Blades.
I've been a supporter since I was 7 in 1958. I first started going when I was about 13. I've seen 45,000 there when it was 3 sided I think.
Also 60,000 springs to mind, but that could be our all time record. Anyone know the facts?

From 1958 to 1975

v Wendy 59,692 FA Cup 6th round March 1960
v Burnley 57,000 FA Cup 6th round March 1962
v Norwich 56,495 FA Cup 6th round March 1959
v Norwich 49,304 FA Cup 5th round Feb1962
v Arsenal 48,763 FA Cup 5th round replay March 1959
v Man U 45,045 Div 1 April 1972

 

[Living In a Fantasy World]

Our fans are great, simply great. ..... most of the time

 

[Kev Gee]

It's plain to see why the prince invested.

All we need is a spark of success and we could be a mid table premier team.

Can Adkins be the man to take us there?

 

[Mad Mick]

From 1958 to 1975

v Wendy 59,692 FA Cup 6th round March 1960
v Burnley 57,000 FA Cup 6th round March 1962
v Norwich 56,495 FA Cup 6th round March 1959
v Norwich 49,304 FA Cup 5th round Feb1962
v Arsenal 48,763 FA Cup 5th round replay March 1959
v Man U 45,045 Div 1 April 1972

Cheers Silent

 

[The_Green_Man]

I honestly think that all home games should be "kids for a quid" for under 16's :-
1. Getting kids interested early should mean most end up Blades - a difficult habit to break! - investing in the future.
2. Would attract more families to games as Dad only has to stump up for one or two full price tickets.
3. Extra revenue from programmes, drinks, food and not to mention shirts etc.
4. Better atmosphere/fuller stadia at games to motivate team.

There's usually at least 8 -10,000 spare seats despite our healthy attendance figures.

We could do a lot more definitely but the same applies for most clubs in the footballing pyramid to be fair. U18's can watch United each game for £13 which is still half decent value in comparison to a good few clubs.

Barnsley have the right idea, they charge £10 for u17's and £5 for u12's which isn't bad and then at the other end of the spectrum you have The Pigs who charge between £20-£25 for u17's which is ridiculous.

 

[Lawrence]

Another reason why I love Sheffield United football club really, one of the main reasons if I am honest. I have an equal love for the fans as I do the club because despite all of the shite we have to put up with, we still turn up week after week and get behind the team.

I know attendances mean diddly squat but 20,199 Blades fans turned out at Bramall Lane the weekend gone to watch us beat Blackpool. To put this into context of how fantastic our support is in current times consider the following.

• Only 3 clubs had a higher attendance that us through the gates this weekend and these only pipped us by a couple of thousand. Brighton 22,659, Leeds 22,597 and Middlesborough 22,236.
• In league one the next best attendance to ours was over at our neighbours in Barnsley and that was only just over half of what we got through the gates on 10,342.

Best fans in the world in my eyes, year upon year we turn out in numbers and support the team no matter how great the height from which we get shit on!

To my fellow comrades, I salute you all!

UTB!

THANKS it is always nice to be apprisiated

 

[Northyorksblade]

I have a theory about SUFC fans - I believe that we, above any other team, seem to revel in adversity. Being in Division 4 or being stuck in League 1 for five seasons, it brings out the best in us, numbers wise. If we get promoted to the Championship, I don't think the attendances will actually be that much better because the adversity won't be there. In fact, given that we'd get beaten a little more, I think it might even prove that a promotion season average would be higher than a survival season average in the next division up.

So we're a load of miserable gits

 

[Northyorksblade]

I honestly think that all home games should be "kids for a quid" for under 16's :-
1. Getting kids interested early should mean most end up Blades - a difficult habit to break! - investing in the future.
2. Would attract more families to games as Dad only has to stump up for one or two full price tickets.
3. Extra revenue from programmes, drinks, food and not to mention shirts etc.
4. Better atmosphere/fuller stadia at games to motivate team.

There's usually at least 8 -10,000 spare seats despite our healthy attendance figures.

If you get your kids a membership card, free, it's a fiver a game with sixth game free . I think that's a bargain

 

[Rodley]

I do agree, I miss the 'bear pit' atmosphere of the early 00s.

We had a bit of it against Forest and Charlton in the FA Cup Semi year, but not much since then.

I do hope if we got back into the Championship the prices are pegged at the same reasonable rate. It's counter intuitive at Bramall Lane to raise them. Affordable prices combined with the visits of the Pigs, Forest and Leeds et al will lead to a few rawcous and hostile full houses. We've seen far better teams than those three crumble under the pressure of it all. Reasonable prices and we'd be on track for a 27,000-28,000 average attendance in the division above.

 

[WhiteHawk]

One of my most memorable atmospheres was the triple assault season. That season you could feel the buzz walking down the road to the ground, the minute you walked in through the turnstyle and on to the stand it was like a red hot cauldron. That season brought me some great memories and will take some beating for years to come.

Couldn't agree more, it was incredible.

Leeds (twice), Liverpool, Sunderland, Palace, Forest, Wednesday. There haven't been many occasions since then where the atmosphere has come close.

 

[bornablade]

From 1958 to 1975

v Wendy 59,692 FA Cup 6th round March 1960
v Burnley 57,000 FA Cup 6th round March 1962
v Norwich 56,495 FA Cup 6th round March 1959
v Norwich 49,304 FA Cup 5th round Feb1962
v Arsenal 48,763 FA Cup 5th round replay March 1959
v Man U 45,045 Div 1 April 1972

Just out of interest Silent what was the attendance against the Wendies on Easter Saturday 1980?

 

[Silent Blade]

Just out of interest Silent what was the attendance against the Wendies on Easter Saturday 1980?

42,526

 

[Bartleby]

this has to be the most positive overall thread I've seen on here since I joined, brings a lump to the throat . Was at some of those big attendance games in the early 70's as a youth, never to be forgotten! It is amazing the crowds we can still attract. UTB!!

 

[blade too long]

I dont think Ive ever witnessed a more joyous crowd than a tuesday night 5-1 win over Cardiff that got us promoted 70 or 71 without looking it up, we had to beat 3rd placed cardiff
Gil Reece hit one in that made the John Street jump in unison and Im sure the stand moved 6 inches backwards, was 42000 in or so but everyone was just ecstatic
the game v watford which we won 3-0 was an anti climax by comparison