Sunday's Crowd - What's Going On ?

[ScottBlade]

Did we have a full ground for the Palace game or was the corner still being built?

The corner stand was built but only had a few seats fitted in at the time if i remember correctly. I got in for nowt thanks to a relative who was working on it, had to watch the entire match in a high vis vest and hard hat but it was worth it. Come to think of it i was probably one of the first to ever sit in that stand on a matchday actually.

 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Personally I've just bought a ticket to watch Chesterfield.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

I don't know if it's still the case but more people used to walk to Bramall Lane to see the match than any other ground in the country so that would back up what you say.........

Either that or we're a bunch of tight gits who won't pay the bus fare

I thought we all had bus passes.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Simple really. Digitalised turnstiles have eliminated both official and unofficial fiddling. This used to be widespread in the "good old days" from what I have been told.

Element of truth in that, I'm sure, but not enough to explain the difference.

 

[Robby Blade]

I too think kids pricing has been a great idea and McCabe is reaping the rewards. In the 80s who in their right mind would have taken a toddler to any football game? Now it is safe to take a baby in arms despite what the moaning minnies say. It is a great experience to be able to take the grandkids and with a bit of luck, great grandkids. Providing we don't make a monumental fuck up, crowds will only get bigger.

 

[Geordie Blade]

The last time we got promoted from this Division in 1989 , only 15,383 watched the last home game against Swansea , when Agana got a hat-trick in a 5-1 victory.

Just to be 100% accurate: "The last time we got promoted from this Division in 1989, only 15,383 (as filed to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) watched the last home game against Swansea , when Agana got a hat-trick in a 5-1 victory."

 

[Booker4]

My guess is that youngsters got hooked during the Warnock years,triple assault,promotion to the Prem,Prem season and have hung around despite the decline years,because of the bond they feel to United and also the sensible pricing.

Just my theory

That's what I think too. From 2000 to 2010 we ruled the roost in Sheffield and not only were we top dogs but the Pigs were particularly poor. As others have said the ticket prices are also far superior at the Lane and the one thing that I keep consoling myself with if Wednesday get promoted is that Chansiri will increase prices further.

Sadly where I live it appears Wednesday are still top dogs - shirt wise in terms of kids, when I take my lad to football training at Firth Park School (Shiregreen) on a Wednesday night. I'd say its about 30% Wednesday, 10% Blades and the rest either another team or just a plain shirt of no team. Saying that, my lad doesn't often wear a United top because the misses says it makes him look tribal etc! What she doesn't know is he's getting the full Blades kit on his birthday in two weeks, which he keeps asking for!

 

[BigBed]

Just a wild guess so read carefully.

In any of the aforementioned years or occasions of promotion have we been crowned champions and been handed a big shiny cup to adorn the club's trophy cabinet??

Has there ever been such a turnaround over one season??

So, in reply to said question, I believe it could be because, the team and management have some sort of magical powers, and have released a form of mind altering nerve gas into the atmosphere, which may have made everyone in a specific area, feel the need to be at Bramall on the 30th of April to witness the return of christ!??

Or it could be because we've romped league one after 6yrs of shit, we're being handed a shiny trophy to prove were champions of said division, and as it's the first time in years we've actually won anything, who in their right mind would want to miss this occasion!? Whether an armchair supporter, a regular match goer or some one that lives miles away n can't make games, you Surely wouldn't miss this would you!!?????

Just a guess though.

 

[maidmarion]

We are a succesful team and people want to join in with that. It's so long since we had reason to celebrate. My son is bringing his wife to her first game , my mum is coming to join in the celebrations . Its the feel good factor and long may it continue.

 

[LS16Blade]

I'm sure the 27K versus Palace was an official sell out at the time.
Part of the Bramall Lane end was closed down due to building work on the away end.

That's correct. The corner stand was still being finished/awaiting a safety certificate. The capacity for the match was just over 29,000 - and that is how many were in for the penultimate home game against the Dirties. The final game was a 1.30pm kick-off on a Sunday, and there were very few Palace fans there. Plenty of empty seats on the Lane end, therefore.

 

[cahill]

We are a succesful team and people want to join in with that. It's so long since we had reason to celebrate. My son is bringing his wife to her first game , my mum is coming to join in the celebrations . Its the feel good factor and long may it continue.

Yeah, my granddaughter is attending her first match with me. Feelgood factor

 

[INTAKE BLADE]

Kevin McCabe has made mistakes over the years but one thing he has done is help build the support. We are now seeing the fruits of the £10 season ticket to under 10's who attended with a full ST holder some 6 or 7 years ago. This was extended to under 11's, 12's and 13's if I remember rightly and this built a whole new generation of young fans as these lads are now 15/16/17 and probably go with their mates. Despite a pretty torrid 6 years in the 3rd division, the support has held up and this season has given an indication of the potential, especially over the last few weeks. The general ticketing policy cannot be faulted either (IMHO) and has helped retain many who may have drifted away as United failed consistently to get out of this division.

I live in an area that is probably a decent indicator as to the support in Sheffield (always slightly more from the other side) and Little BB started a football training session on Saturday mornings some 8 years ago when he was 5. At the time, there was about an even split between SWFC and SUFC shirts among the youngsters with SWFC just edging it. Tomorrow, SUFC shirts will amount to about 60% to 70% of the kids attending and SWFC shirts will be about 20% (with 10% being "others"). There are even lads whose fathers are SWFC but peer pressure has turned their youngsters into Blades. It's been both interesting and highly encouraging to watch this progression over the last 8 years or so in this small microcosm of young Sheffield football fans.

Long may it continue and again, well done SUFC! There is nothing quite like a full and rocking BDTBL

Spot on mate.

 

[Fanny magnet]

I think our fan base is the biggest ive known it in my lifetime ,therefore has grown from around 10-15000 to 15-20000 and I can see us getting plus 25k crowds next year

 

[Tyler Durden]

To any Pigs who are sniping/exaggerating/outright lying about the extent of our concessionary schemes/pricing structure, I'll tell them a little story:

I'm just about old enough to recall United having a three-sided ground, and not even being able to fill that. A couple of years later (99/00 ) I had my first season ticket. The average attendance that season was 13,000.

The football was shite, the boardroom was a fucking circus and the blue and white 3rd of Sheffield had enjoyed a near decade of top-flight football and an undisputably bigger attending fanbase.....all of which was about to change.

Now, did we pursue a policy of accessible football in the first decade of 2000? Damn right we did. We made it easy for kids to watch us because it's a lifetime investment. We made it affordable for students because maybe, just maybe we did our research and noted that Sheffield has one of the highest retention rates for graduates in the country.
If the football was going to be crap then at least it was going to be cheap. It just so happens that all this coincided with United enjoying a decade of unbroken dominance over our shit neighbours.

By contrast, the filth from S6 raised prices year on year, exploiting their gullible and deluded fanbase and milking them for all they're worth whilst their football was fucking garbage. SWFC's budget apparently didn't cover cheap tickets but it did cover those 'Get Your Premiership Return Ticket' adverts pasted on buses and trams.......the year they got relegated to the third division. Yet another example of their arrogance biting them on the arse.

The funniest thing about all this is that those thick misguided cunts think that they can laugh at our ticketing policy (which has paid dividends), never realising that they've been hoodwinked, exploited and sold down the river by successive white elephant owners on the hollow promise that "this will be their year" ad infinitum.

 

[snootyfenooty]

The funniest thing about all this is that those thick misguided cunts think that they can laugh at our ticketing policy (which has paid dividends), never realising that they've been hoodwinked, exploited and sold down the river by successive white elephant owners on the hollow promise that "this will be their year" ad infinitum.

What I find bizarre is that the cretins view their ridiculous ticket prices as a badge of honour and use this to brag about "revenue per ticket", as if this puts them amongst the footballing elite. Admittedly a few of the exchanges between the fans of each club are bollocks but this one leaves me lost for words.

 

[Fanny magnet]

I think our fan base is the biggest ive known it in my lifetime ,therefore has grown from around 10-15000 to 15-20000 and I can see us getting plus 25k crowds next year

Should be hard-core not therefore

 

[alcoblade]

All of the above. And that crowds were incredibly fiddled in the 80's.

Plus cashless turnstiles.

 

[super_pig]

umm dumb question.. when do we get the trophy?? before .. after? do i have to get there on time?

 

[Houston_Blade]

Look out for Michael Vaughan, he'll be in the boxes with his half and half scarf on.

 

[BushBlade]

To any Pigs who are sniping/exaggerating/outright lying about the extent of our concessionary schemes/pricing structure, I'll tell them a little story:

I'm just about old enough to recall United having a three-sided ground, and not even being able to fill that. A couple of years later (99/00 ) I had my first season ticket. The average attendance that season was 13,000.

The football was shite, the boardroom was a fucking circus and the blue and white 3rd of Sheffield had enjoyed a near decade of top-flight football and an undisputably bigger attending fanbase.....all of which was about to change.

Now, did we pursue a policy of accessible football in the first decade of 2000? Damn right we did. We made it easy for kids to watch us because it's a lifetime investment. We made it affordable for students because maybe, just maybe we did our research and noted that Sheffield has one of the highest retention rates for graduates in the country.
If the football was going to be crap then at least it was going to be cheap. It just so happens that all this coincided with United enjoying a decade of unbroken dominance over our shit neighbours.

By contrast, the filth from S6 raised prices year on year, exploiting their gullible and deluded fanbase and milking them for all they're worth whilst their football was fucking garbage. SWFC's budget apparently didn't cover cheap tickets but it did cover those 'Get Your Premiership Return Ticket' adverts pasted on buses and trams.......the year they got relegated to the third division. Yet another example of their arrogance biting them on the arse.

The funniest thing about all this is that those thick misguided cunts think that they can laugh at our ticketing policy (which has paid dividends), never realising that they've been hoodwinked, exploited and sold down the river by successive white elephant owners on the hollow promise that "this will be their year" ad infinitum.

Who cares? Fuck 'em. They've been in a league above us for five years and they're still blathering on about attendances and revenues and all sorts of bollocks. They're fucking simpletons. The only way they can attract new supporters is by breeding because if you're not born into piggery, you wouldn't choose it.

 

['Doc' Pace my hero]

Over the last 10 years the club have made a lot of mistakes,but they have never tried to screw the fans with inflated prices.The affordable pricing,particularly for the young and old supporters is key and we all know that once you have an allegiance to a club you seldom lose it.It also helps if you support the best football club in the world.........probably !!

 

[Need4speed]

Kevin McCabe has made mistakes over the years but one thing he has done is help build the support. We are now seeing the fruits of the £10 season ticket to under 10's who attended with a full ST holder some 6 or 7 years ago. This was extended to under 11's, 12's and 13's if I remember rightly and this built a whole new generation of young fans as these lads are now 15/16/17 and probably go with their mates. Despite a pretty torrid 6 years in the 3rd division, the support has held up and this season has given an indication of the potential, especially over the last few weeks. The general ticketing policy cannot be faulted either (IMHO) and has helped retain many who may have drifted away as United failed consistently to get out of this division.

I live in an area that is probably a decent indicator as to the support in Sheffield (always slightly more from the other side) and Little BB started a football training session on Saturday mornings some 8 years ago when he was 5. At the time, there was about an even split between SWFC and SUFC shirts among the youngsters with SWFC just edging it. Tomorrow, SUFC shirts will amount to about 60% to 70% of the kids attending and SWFC shirts will be about 20% (with 10% being "others"). There are even lads whose fathers are SWFC but peer pressure has turned their youngsters into Blades. It's been both interesting and highly encouraging to watch this progression over the last 8 years or so in this small microcosm of young Sheffield football fans.

Long may it continue and again, well done SUFC! There is nothing quite like a full and rocking BDTBL

This is true. My son was one of those. He is 19 now and he is still only paying just over £100 for his season ticket. They introduced cheap tickets for under 11,s initially and then increased the age every year. This has built up a following amongst the younger generations. We live in Northampton, my son has never lived in Sheffield and we have no family there. He is probably a bigger blade than i was at his age and will be the there for years to come. McCabe can be criticised for many things but not what he has done to extend the fan base for another generation

 

[Keen Blade]

I am genuinely touched by the huge & interesting response. I will post later when not driving the van. I am often labelled a McCabe basher on here + sometimes I deserve the stick (hello Sean Thornton !). But I have to acknowledge the "unseen" investment he's made by way of an excellent long-term ticket pricing policy + improvement of ground facilities. He realised long ago that the Blades can only sell a good product at the right price , no matter the vicissitudes of how the team is doing in whichever Division. And he's got his reward in a full-house - people want to be in a full house , it's exciting in itself , so UTB !

 

[South Bucks]

Some interesting theories being posted and I'm sure the ticketing policy has helped but I also sense attendences have been gradually increasing at many clubs with a decent catchment area. One or two other possible factors

a) Increased disposable incomes and availability of credit

b) Media exposure. Nowadays we can see every match, goal and what the manager and players are doing. Maintains peoples interest and once hooked keeps them hooked. Lots of games on TV has created more interest. Contrast this with say the seventies, united might be on MOTD once a season, be on yorkshire ITV on a sunday afternoon a couple of times but other than that and the green un nowt unless you'd been to the match. Hard to get hooked with almost no media exposure unless a mate or a relative takes you to your first game. The media was so bad in those days if I didn't go to the match and with not living in Sheffield I often didn't find out the score until the next day by reading the papers. How crap was that ?

c) Better stadiums - look at Brighton, Derby etc

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

To any Pigs who are sniping/exaggerating/outright lying about the extent of our concessionary schemes/pricing structure, I'll tell them a little story:

I'm just about old enough to recall United having a three-sided ground, and not even being able to fill that. A couple of years later (99/00 ) I had my first season ticket. The average attendance that season was 13,000.

The football was shite, the boardroom was a fucking circus and the blue and white 3rd of Sheffield had enjoyed a near decade of top-flight football and an undisputably bigger attending fanbase.....all of which was about to change.

Now, did we pursue a policy of accessible football in the first decade of 2000? Damn right we did. We made it easy for kids to watch us because it's a lifetime investment. We made it affordable for students because maybe, just maybe we did our research and noted that Sheffield has one of the highest retention rates for graduates in the country.
If the football was going to be crap then at least it was going to be cheap. It just so happens that all this coincided with United enjoying a decade of unbroken dominance over our shit neighbours.

By contrast, the filth from S6 raised prices year on year, exploiting their gullible and deluded fanbase and milking them for all they're worth whilst their football was fucking garbage. SWFC's budget apparently didn't cover cheap tickets but it did cover those 'Get Your Premiership Return Ticket' adverts pasted on buses and trams.......the year they got relegated to the third division. Yet another example of their arrogance biting them on the arse.

The funniest thing about all this is that those thick misguided cunts think that they can laugh at our ticketing policy (which has paid dividends), never realising that they've been hoodwinked, exploited and sold down the river by successive white elephant owners on the hollow promise that "this will be their year" ad infinitum.

minus one point for not using "is it today Dad". Otherwise, a sterling effort, well done.

 

[PaulHalfway]

Lets just hope we can get the band waggon rolling, and slowly keep improving the team so we can start in a couple of years to look at challenging for top 6 and beyond, been proved this season that a winning Sheff United playing entertaining football will attract the big support, for the first time in years I think we all now actually look forward to Saturday with a feeling of excitement, long may it last

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

A more general point is the increasing popularity of live performances. Ironically, in this online, on screen age, there has been a revival of direct experience. Live music is better than recorded, a book is better than a kindle, and live football is much better than TV football. People like a social experience and real physical experience. Climbing a hill on YouTube is nothing compared to the lived experience. There are real opportunities for football, and United are taking advantage of this.

 

[BigBed]

To any Pigs who are sniping/exaggerating/outright lying about the extent of our concessionary schemes/pricing structure, I'll tell them a little story:

I'm just about old enough to recall United having a three-sided ground, and not even being able to fill that. A couple of years later (99/00 ) I had my first season ticket. The average attendance that season was 13,000.

The football was shite, the boardroom was a fucking circus and the blue and white 3rd of Sheffield had enjoyed a near decade of top-flight football and an undisputably bigger attending fanbase.....all of which was about to change.

Now, did we pursue a policy of accessible football in the first decade of 2000? Damn right we did. We made it easy for kids to watch us because it's a lifetime investment. We made it affordable for students because maybe, just maybe we did our research and noted that Sheffield has one of the highest retention rates for graduates in the country.
If the football was going to be crap then at least it was going to be cheap. It just so happens that all this coincided with United enjoying a decade of unbroken dominance over our shit neighbours.

By contrast, the filth from S6 raised prices year on year, exploiting their gullible and deluded fanbase and milking them for all they're worth whilst their football was fucking garbage. SWFC's budget apparently didn't cover cheap tickets but it did cover those 'Get Your Premiership Return Ticket' adverts pasted on buses and trams.......the year they got relegated to the third division. Yet another example of their arrogance biting them on the arse.

The funniest thing about all this is that those thick misguided cunts think that they can laugh at our ticketing policy (which has paid dividends), never realising that they've been hoodwinked, exploited and sold down the river by successive white elephant owners on the hollow promise that "this will be their year" ad infinitum.

One pretty major error I've noticed whilst reading your post, which was otherwise pretty good, is the fact that you referred to the south Barnsley lot as " blue and white 3Rd of 'SHEFFIELD'!!" when we all know they're actually the blue and white quarter of Barnsley!!??
If you could possibly refrain from making these stupid childish mistakes in future posts, then that would be appreciated greatly!!!
Thanks x

 

[Sharrow Snuff Mill]

Now that we have got the 1000 seats back from Chesterfield , it looks like Sunday's gate might top 30,000.
What is going on ?
That is more than watched us get promoted to the Premiership in 2006 , against Palace - 27,120 - and I remember there were a lot of Palace in the Bramall Lane End , gamely participating in the Mexican waves.
The last time we got promoted from this Division in 1989 , only 15,383 watched the last home game against Swansea , when Agana got a hat-trick in a 5-1 victory.
In fact , the following season - 1990 - we celebrated promotion to the "premiership" in front of only 20,994.
So tell me what's going on !
Naturally I've got my own ideas , but I don't want you to just agree or disagree with me.
Please throw in few ideas of your own about this apparently phenomemal increase in support after 10 years of abject failure 2007 - 2017.

What`s going on is this :- Chessy have sold their amended allocation of 600 tickets. All the rest have been sold to Blades. As Lynne Anderson sang in Rose Garden - "Come and enjoy the good times while we can".

 

[Dellas Cowboys]

Kids want something to live stream to build up their followers and the chance to use their phone torch en masse with others is a huge draw