Lowest Ever Crowd

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William Henry Foulkes

William Henry Foulkes

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Again going from memory but I'm sure we've had crowds of under 4 000 for League games.

I was wondering what was our lowest crowd, and if anyone here went to the game?

I was thinking of League games but maybe there were some other games with lower crowds.

Maybe even Reserves or u21s etc, if they publish or published attendances.

Or away games.

Like Yeovil on a Tuesday night.
 



William Henry Foulkes said:
Again going from memory but I'm sure we've had crowds of under 4 000 for League games.

I was wondering what was our lowest crowd, and if anyone here went to the game?

I was thinking of League games but maybe there were some other games with lower crowds.

Maybe even Reserves or u21s etc, if they publish or published attendances.

Or away games.

Like Yeovil on a Tuesday night.
Click to expand...

I think our lowest at home might have been 6,900 or so against Palace in the mid 80s. Probably wrong.
 
WalthamstowBlade said:
I think our lowest at home might have been 6,900 or so against Palace in the mid 80s. Probably wrong.
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6647 in March 1987. We won with a Colin Morris penalty. I was a part-timer then and I think I was at the match but do not remember reading in the papers in the next day that it was our lowest attendance for a home league match since the war. It was when I was reading a Flashing Blade article a few years later that I realised how low the attendance was
 
The pigs also slipped below 7,000 in that era too, against Colchester I think.

I remember "big" clubs like Chelsea getting under 10k too.
 
Seem to remember a Sunday game, against Swindon I think before Sunday games were the norm, no idea of the year, probably late 80's, no recollection of the result, just remember the ground being very empty and the atmosphere nonexistent.
 
sampylad said:
Seem to remember a Sunday game, against Swindon I think before Sunday games were the norm, no idea of the year, probably late 80's, no recollection of the result, just remember the ground being very empty and the atmosphere nonexistent.
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That was 1987-8. There were just under 8,000 there. We won 1-0 with a Cadette goal.

The Palace crowd in 1986-7 is the lowest since the war.

The lowest ever for a league game is about 500, from our first season in the league in 1892-3 (against Darwen I think)

The Crewe cup attendance this year was the lowest for a cup game at the Lane since 1895.
 
Cyprus Blade said:
Lowest ever league attendance I could find was 4,014 v Forest 1934-35
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I think that was our lowest home league gate of the 20th century. That was an end of season game in a season when United finished in their lowest ever position. Wednesday were playing at Wembley in the cup final on the same day.
 
Wards said:
What's the reason for the low crowds of that era? The mid 80-s that is.
Click to expand...

Things like:

Crap facilities, which were proved to be dangerous in some cases (Bradford Fire)
Actual and imagined hooliganism (most notably Heysel)
economic hard times/unemployment cutting attendance (it was much more a "working class" game then)
Other entertainment options becoming available
the Government of the day's war on football (ID card scheme etc), and fans being treated like criminals (huge fences, electic fence at Chelsea etc)
(possibly) a decline in the fortunes of the national team from 1966 onwards

Plus there was no football on TV from August to December 1985 (TV companies couldn't do a deal with the League), which in hindsight probably hurt attendance that season as there was less exposure to it.

Crowds had reached record levels after the War, peaking in the late 40s and early 50s, and had fallen from then on with odd blips here and there (like after the World Cup win). The advent of TV was probably the biggest factor in that decline. It also harmed cinema attendance and killed the music hall scene. Attendance started to go up again slowly after 1986 and accelerated after 1990, for reasons everyone is probably familiar with.
 
Last edited:
Revolution said:
That was 1987-8. There were just under 8,000 there. We won 1-0 with a Cadette goal.

The Palace crowd in 1986-7 is the lowest since the war.

The lowest ever for a league game is about 500, from our first season in the league in 1892-3 (against Darwen I think)

The Crewe cup attendance this year was the lowest for a cup game at the Lane since 1895.
Click to expand...

I believe that Swindon game was our first ever game on a Sunday. I was at that one and the Palace game.
 
Darren said:
I believe that Swindon game was our first ever game on a Sunday. I was at that one and the Palace game.
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It was.

I saw the Swindon game (and the Reading and Plymouth games with sub 7,000 crowds) but missed the Palace game - one of only two I missed that year. That might be one of the reasons it was the lowest crowd ever - we were down to die hards and a few people like me and my Dad and brother, who only missed the odd match, didn't go.

I can't remember why I wasn't at the Palace game - the other match I missed was Leeds, which I missed because it was all ticket (after the trouble in the 1985 game against them) and I don't think I was allowed to go.
 



Revolution said:
It was.

I saw the Swindon game (and the Reading and Plymouth games with sub 7,000 crowds) but missed the Palace game - one of only two I missed that year. That might be one of the reasons it was the lowest crowd ever - we were down to die hards and a few people like me and my Dad and brother, who only missed the odd match, didn't go.

I can't remember why I wasn't at the Palace game - the other match I missed was Leeds, which I missed because it was all ticket (after the trouble in the 1985 game against them) and I don't think I was allowed to go.
Click to expand...

I was a season ticket holder in those days and was pathologically obsessed to the extent that I went to all the reserve games as well! Apropos what you said the other day, from 84-5 to 87-8 was a pretty miserable time with much anger and frustration from the fans (even though 85-6 and 86-7 were, in terms of league position, our best seasons since relegation from the top tier in 1976). It was also a time when a very nasty racism was rife at the Lane. We had no black player between Wiggan in 1982 and Cadette in 1987 and any opposition black player was gauranteed the monkey treatment every time he got the ball.
 
The only one of those I missed was the Swindon game on the Sunday. That is the only reason I remember it because it was Sunday. The Ipswich game I was on the Top and remember looking around thinking it was a shit attendance but was shocked at the figure given. Didn't see it being that low.
 
Taramasalata said:
Was the acona match where we had 3 sent off a nd harry as well for calling the ref a wanker?

I remember they scored a stunning overhead kick.....
Click to expand...

That was the Udinse match on 24/8/94. Blake, Hartfield and Hodges were sent off and Bassett was sent from the bench. We lost 1-2 (Littlejohn).

Bassett had played a recognisable firstish team for that game, but after that experience played the reserves for the remaning 3 games. The Ancona game was on 5/10/94. We drew 3-3 (Ward pen, Battersby, A. Scott).
 
Remember, early 1990s , I think , and we played Chelsea away in a FA Cup match ( Jones had just signed for Chelsea and he was booked 1st minute of our match) in front of a 40,000 crowd, on the previous Tuesday Chelsea played Southampton in a top flight league game at the Bridge in front of a 7,000 crowd


Was weird in those days
 
Off topic I know but Man Utd's support for whatever match seems to remain at 76,000
 
Revolution said:
Things like:

Crap facilities, which were proved to be dangerous in some cases (Bradford Fire)
Actual and imagined hooliganism (most notably Heysel)
economic hard times/unemployment cutting attendance (it was much more a "working class" game then)
Other entertainment options becoming available
the Government of the day's war on football (ID card scheme etc), and fans being treated like criminals (huge fences, electic fence at Chelsea etc)
(possibly) a decline in the fortunes of the national team from 1966 onwards

Plus there was no football on TV from August to December 1985 (TV companies couldn't do a deal with the League), which in hindsight probably hurt attendance that season as there was less exposure to it.

Crowds had reached record levels after the War, peaking in the late 40s and early 50s, and had fallen from then on with odd blips here and there (like after the World Cup win). The advent of TV was probably the biggest factor in that decline. It also harmed cinema attendance and killed the music hall scene. Attendance started to go up again slowly after 1986 and accelerated after 1990, for reasons everyone is probably familiar with.
Click to expand...

Some good calls. However we played (I think) West Ham in (I think) 1973 when there were power cuts, three-day weeks etc. on a midweek afternoon and got around 23k.

You mention crap facilities, hooliganism, economic hard times, other entertainment options available etc. Could describe the decline of the pub trade as well. (Well, hooliganism in my local, anyway!)
 
cahill said:
Remember, early 1990s , I think , and we played Chelsea away in a FA Cup match ( Jones had just signed for Chelsea and he was booked 1st minute of our match) in front of a 40,000 crowd, on the previous Tuesday Chelsea played Southampton in a top flight league game at the Bridge in front of a 7,000 crowd


Was weird in those days
Click to expand...

There weren't 40k at our game - I think it was about 33,000 - but you're right about the 7,000 crowd for the Southampton game. Their fans got a lot of stick for that. Of course, they had one of the most fickle set of fans in the country pre Abramovich.

I have rarely been happier coming out of the ground after we lost: just before they let us out they announced that Arsenal had beaten the Pigs 7-1.
 
grafikhaus said:
As does Arsenal's at just over 60k. Regardless of the number of empty seats...
Click to expand...

that's because they count season ticket holders irrespective of whether they show up: the only variation is away support.
 
grafikhaus said:
Some good calls. However we played (I think) West Ham in (I think) 1973 when there were power cuts, three-day weeks etc. on a midweek afternoon and got around 23k.

You mention crap facilities, hooliganism, economic hard times, other entertainment options available etc. Could describe the decline of the pub trade as well. (Well, hooliganism in my local, anyway!)
Click to expand...

Three day week and power cuts resulted in the Blades playing WHU at BDTBL on a midweek afternoon in February 1972. The Blades won 3-0. Billy Dearden hattrick.

The week before Santos and Pele played at Hillsborough. There were 36,000 there. Our school wouldn't allow us to go to the Pele match. Strict policing all over the exits at school. The week after I am sure I just walked out of school and went to see the Blades but I wonder if it was half term.
 
cahill said:
Remember, early 1990s , I think , and we played Chelsea away in a FA Cup match ( Jones had just signed for Chelsea and he was booked 1st minute of our match) in front of a 40,000 crowd, on the previous Tuesday Chelsea played Southampton in a top flight league game at the Bridge in front of a 7,000 crowd


Was weird in those days
Click to expand...

Was that when Carl Bradshaw came out with a bandage round his head, came up to the Utd fans and flexed his muscles in a Vinny Jones piss take, took the bandage off and stamped on it?

I think it was Bradshaw who he kicked up in the air for his booking too, but whoever it was, they held onto the ball as a deliberate ploy to invite the lunge and get him booked
 
1889 said:
Was that when Carl Bradshaw came out with a bandage round his head, came up to the Utd fans and flexed his muscles in a Vinny Jones piss take, took the bandage off and stamped on it?

I think it was Bradshaw who he kicked up in the air for his booking too, but whoever it was, they held onto the ball as a deliberate ploy to invite the lunge and get him booked
Click to expand...

It was John Gannon who Jones nailed straight from the kick off. Bradshaw waded in after the foul though.
 



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