RibeyeThe wembley games and Worthington cup final prove the fans are out there. I'm sure we sold something like 48k for the Carlisle game?
They were a long time ago. Our fanbase has undoubtedly shrunk since then.
lowercaserAs someone posted a while back kids these days in an era of social media don't have a favourite team so much as a favourite player(s) who the follow over and above any one team.
So until Blues can attract players who have a Insta etc presence that 'chimes' with the kids its going to be struggle to connect with them.
And then you've got to overcome the 'why wld I go to Blues when I can watch it on my phone?' mentality.
Lots of people do both simultaneously…
I know we are not them but vile closed a stand during there championship season due to lack of interest, now have a waiting list as long as your arm 🤷🏻♂️ for season tickets
If our new owners get it right there is a demand in the city for top flight football ,we just need to believe, the future is a brighter than it has been for a long time, it’s not going to happen overnight but given time and with good investment we surely can get the sold out signs out again
Was thinking, looking at the average attendances for the two most recent promotion seasons in 06/07 and 08/09. Were the low attendances down to how dour and dull we were under Bruce and McLeish?
06/07 - 22,273
08/09 - 19,081
I know we are not them but vile closed a stand during there championship season due to lack of interest, now have a waiting list as long as your arm 🤷🏻♂️ for season tickets
If our new owners get it right there is a demand in the city for top flight football ,we just need to believe, the future is a brighter than it has been for a long time, it’s not going to happen overnight but given time and with good investment we surely can get the sold out signs out again
This is it for me, if we ever do get promoted we will sell out.
The interest in the PL is immeasurably larger since we were last in it. Global interest and coverage, social media, football tourism. Couple that with what would be an up-and-coming club in an increasingly fashionable city that has spare capacity in the stadium and the place will be packed out every week regardless of whether the new fans are returning lapsed fans or just tourists.
KESDidn’t help. Season before covid we averaged 22k and we’re still pretty shite. People will returnWas thinking, looking at the average attendances for the two most recent promotion seasons in 06/07 and 08/09. Were the low attendances down to how dour and dull we were under Bruce and McLeish?
06/07 - 22,273
08/09 - 19,081
No, since I've been going 79ish, we have only averaged above 25 on the occasions we were in the prem & apart from the 1st season under Bruce tickets were always easy to come by.
Take the carling cup final, tickets all sold. On the day if you turned up without one there were people selling them as people couldn't make it or people had just purchased extra tickets.
I would bet a very large sum that if we played the Villa & I didn't get a ticket either at home or away if I just turned up in town & asked around the pubs I would get one.
I believe that a 35k stadium would be plenty big enough for us. You say this may lack ambition but I don't see us filling a 40k plus stadium week in week out unless we have 10 / 15 years of major success. That actually means winning trophies & competing at the highest level every season.
Only 3 teams have had an average attendance of less than 25,000 in the prem this Year. Mostly down to having small capacity's.
"Average Attendance"
"1","Manchester United","73,661"
"2","West Ham United","62,462"
"3","Tottenham Hotspur","61,585"
"4","Arsenal","60,191"
"5","Manchester City","53,249"
"6","Liverpool","53,179"
"7","Newcastle United","52,126"
"8","Aston Villa","41,679"
"9","Chelsea","39,995"
"10","Everton","39,240"
"11","Leeds United","36,549"
"12","Leicester City","31,871"
"13","Brighton & Hove Albion","31,482"
"14","Wolverhampton Wanderers","31,345"
"15","Southampton","30,420"
"16","Nottingham Forest","29,188"
"17","Crystal Palace","25,213"
"18","Fulham","23,746"
"19","Brentford","17,077"
"20","AFC Bournemouth","10,309"
Just about all premier teams pretty much sell out every game.
I don't see it being any different for us. Build a bigger stadium up to about 40,000 and we'd fill it.
KESWas thinking, looking at the average attendances for the two most recent promotion seasons in 06/07 and 08/09. Were the low attendances down to how dour and dull we were under Bruce and McLeish?
06/07 - 22,273
08/09 - 19,081
Under Francis we averaged 20-22,000 so the first season was normal for us in the Championship.
In 2008-09 we played some awful football. I think that was a big factor in not getting massive crowds. It was also when the financial crisis hit people.
KennelsNo, since I've been going 79ish, we have only averaged above 25 on the occasions we were in the prem & apart from the 1st season under Bruce tickets were always easy to come by.
Take the carling cup final, tickets all sold. On the day if you turned up without one there were people selling them as people couldn't make it or people had just purchased extra tickets.
I would bet a very large sum that if we played the Villa & I didn't get a ticket either at home or away if I just turned up in town & asked around the pubs I would get one.
I believe that a 35k stadium would be plenty big enough for us. You say this may lack ambition but I don't see us filling a 40k plus stadium week in week out unless we have 10 / 15 years of major success. That actually means winning trophies & competing at the highest level every season.
I don't think you need to fill it every week to justify it.
The problem with a 29,000 or 35,000 capacity is that it limits you.
We would need to average at least 30,000 though and sell out at least once or twice a season.
Obviously in the PL we'd do better than that.
But at the moment a 40K stadium might just be providing everyone who goes with a spare seat.
Hagley BlueRibeyeThe wembley games and Worthington cup final prove the fans are out there. I'm sure we sold something like 48k for the Carlisle game?
They were a long time ago. Our fanbase has undoubtedly shrunk since then.
Agree
We sold 33k for League Cup final and everyone i know who claimed to be a Blues fan, even if they hadn't been down since 1980\90's
got sorted with a ticket. Other people may have stories of people missing out but i don't think many who wanted to go missed out? Did they?
I would say we don't even have 40,000 fans out there anymore
The league cup final isn’t a great metric
Lots would’ve been going for their first game in years and only cos it was final
To justify a big stadium you need to really identify how many will go week in week out.
30k would do us with an option to increase
I would say we don't even have 40,000 fans out there anymore
None of us can prove it but I don't agree with this, for every fan I know who goes regularly there are 10 that don't
Regardless, fan bases can be grown, the attendances we get now or even in the past should not be the determining factor with respect to the size of a new stadium, or what average attendances we get in the future
We used to have well over 100,000 members registered on the ticketing system. I don't know how many are on the system now.