"If you want some accessible but informative insight into football then I suggest you couldn't do better than the Political Economy of Football website, which is not only intelligible but comes with the added bonus of being written by Addicks fan Wyn Grant." Ben Hayes - Charlton Athletic programme
Articles on attendances and spectator numbers in football – soccer.
Following their last day survival in the Barclays Premier League, Wigan Athletic have frozen their season ticket prices for the fifth season in a row. Even so, their support base remains limited, although if you look at it as a percentage of the local population it’s a great achievement, particularly given the local attachment to rugby league. There’s roughly the same population where I live and we can only sustain a third tier non-league club.
I know that many football fans were delighted to see AFC Wimbledon win promotion to the Football League in a penalty shoot out yesterday. It’s been a remarkable story and a great victory for fan power. However, I do feel sorry for Luton Town who have also been victims of the football authorities. They don’t deserve to be playing in the Conference and they are only doing so because of some harsh treatment.
I was talking to the chairman of a non-league club the other day and he reckoned that attendances were down by about 20 per cent this season even where clubs were doing well on the pitch. He thought that even the time of the month when people got paid had an effect on attendance, so squeezed were family budgets.
Swansea City made a profit of £593,901 in the year ending 31 May 2010. This compared with a net loss of £457,020 in the previous year. Turnover increased by £770,000 but operating expenditure increased by £3.2m reflecting the cost of investing in a squad able to challenge for the Premiership.
Colchester United have the fifth worse crowds in League 1 with an average attendance of 4,221. This means that their owner has in effect to subsidise everyone who enters the ground, but he is determined to stay the course.
Clubs that are an easy train journey from London face the challenge of competing with the top Premier League sides that are within easy reach. Many people who live in Essex have historic family ties with clubs like Spurs or West Ham United.
This map of football support in London is interesting, if only as a talking point. It’s striking how geographically squeezed the support base of the smaller clubs is. It’s also worth bearing in mind that a lot of support for the bigger clubs comes from outside London: my guess would be at least 50 per cent. In the case of Charlton, a medium-sized club, there are probably as many supporters who have migrated to live in Kent as live in the ‘home bor
The recent bad weather has given momentum to the case for a winter break in English football (the Scottish case is more compelling). Managers, players and fans who have travelled to postponed matches are all creating a massive snowball of support.
Sunderland FC is having a successful season on the pitch, but attendances at the Stadium of Light remain disappointing. They are a matter of concern for chairman Niall Quinn, both because he thinks the team performs better in front of a big crowd and because they could affect the playing budget. He thinks that attendances are being affected by fans who might otherwise be in the ground watching illegal transmissions in pubs which costs them les
The current campaign has seen attendances fall away at all four West Midlands Premiership grounds. In the latest issue of When Saturday Comes, Adam Bate asks why are the fans staying away from West Midlands football?
Blue Square Premiership club Kidderminster Harriers has been put up for sale. Ever since the club was relegated from the Football League in 2005, it has struggled with attendances. The chairman considers that the club would benefit from new investment, as no doubt it would.