gonzo Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 I'm still not sure what the debate is here... We are good=crowds are high. We are bad=crowds are low. Quite simple really. Quote
miamiwhite Posted October 30, 2013 Author Posted October 30, 2013 I think part of the problem when we were relegated to the 4th division was that it coincided with an overall slump in attendances across the country. Football wasn't all that popular back then. Don't Sheffield Utd hold the record for the biggest ever Third Division attendance of over 50,000 v Wednesday? i think the crowd may have been 49,000 for that match. pretty sure Villa had a similar crowd when they were in the old 3rd in the early 70's anyway,the Whites hold the record v Darlington,you must know the date ?????? Quote
COYW Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 i think the crowd may have been 49,000 for that match. pretty sure Villa had a similar crowd when they were in the old 3rd in the early 70's It was the Sheffield derby. I didn't realise it was as recent as Boxing Day 1979 though. 'The match was watched by a record third division crowd of 49,309 spectators.' Quote
Zico Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 did we not play in division 3 under rioch? Seem to recall average was 8-8.5k which is what we took to Liverpool in the cup! Quote
davidjack Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 I think the evidence is there to say that when there's something to shout about our fans usually turn out. It took a while to build from the mid 90s - but that's not surprising given we'd only had 2 years of top flight football in the previous 30 years. That didn't happen to the likes of Wolves - they fell like a stone from Div 1 in 84 to Div 4 in 87, but within a couple of years were flying again thanks to Bull and Mutch. Even Burnley were playing in Div 1 in the mid 70s. Also worth remembering that we never once had a crowd below 20k for a Premier league game at the Reebok until Megson's arrival in 2008...that's 8 seasons. It's a shame we didn't capitalise on the sell-outs we were regularly getting in 2003-2006 when average crowds were 25 and 26k. That was the time, in my opinion, to offer the cheap kids tickets to really build on what we had - even show some ambition and put the extra rows in to take capacity above 30k. Instead, prices actually went up and they brought in A+ categories - thinking the bubble would never burst. Quote
bolton va va Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 I think it was always inevitable that our crowds would drop from their peak in the early premier league seasons. It all came together at the same time at Bolton that football became fashionable, BWFC were on a high & we had a shiny, new, out of town ground, but most of these nu-fans were never going to stick around when the novelty wore off. Iirc the biggest drop in our support was in fathead's last season. Quote
davidjack Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 It started to drop then, tho I reckon part of that was that a good number were so skint from the euro jaunts that they cut back on going a bit the next season. Also, around that time was when dodgy tv - in pubs and on folks' laptops - really started to kick in. You factor in the worst recession in a hundred years a year or so later, together with Megson's PR offensive and you had the perfect storm. Quote
miamiwhite Posted October 30, 2013 Author Posted October 30, 2013 who remembers the FA Cup 4th replay against Southampton in 1974 played on a tuesday or wednesday afternoon,due to the national power strike ? wasn't the crowd something like 22,000 ? Imagine that nowadays,you'd be lucky if 1,500 turned up just like the 77 semi against Everton,over 50,000 on,yet against Villa just over a quarter of a century later,less than 14,000 have the Reebok overflowing out of interest......how many are nostalgic re the Villa game and how many would love to see the Everton game again even though we got beat ? media coverage has totally killed the national game off Quote
Casino Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 i was allowed off school to watch the replay drew 3-3 a few days bbefore i think we played a midweek afternoon league game, too Quote
miamiwhite Posted October 30, 2013 Author Posted October 30, 2013 (edited) i was allowed off school to watch the replay drew 3-3 a few days bbefore i think we played a midweek afternoon league game, too with power strikes forecast and possible for the long bleak winter ahead,i wonder again how many would turn up if we ironically played the saints in a midweek replay ? there'd be more watching in the griffin by candlelight Edited October 30, 2013 by miamiwhite Quote
gonzo Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 Worse thing about that villa semi was the fact they had about 5k on. We had 13k on against tranmere in the semi in 2000 or whatever, Embarrassing Quote
tomski Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 As David Jack pointed out, I think it became far to easy to watch us in a boozer and many did. I suppose its easy to stop going when you can go and spend a tenner down the pub watching Quote
tomski Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 Worse thing about that villa semi was the fact they had about 5k on. We had 13k on against tranmere in the semi in 2000 or whatever, Embarrassing Agreed cant describe how excited I was for them games and couldn't believe the turn out! Quote
COYW Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 just like the 77 semi against Everton,over 50,000 on,yet against Villa just over a quarter of a century later,less than 14,000 have the Reebok overflowing out of interest......how many are nostalgic re the Villa game and how many would love to see the Everton game again even though we got beat ? media coverage has totally killed the national game off The cup competitions are seen as secondary to the Premier League. When we played Villa in the League Cup, the Premier League games were seen as bigger than even the semi-final. A better comparison would be the semi-final against Swindon when Burnden was packed to capacity. Quote
Casino Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 How do we explain the pathetic turn out against Tranmere Go on, spin that one Quote
COYW Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 How do we explain the pathetic turn out against Tranmere Go on, spin that one Like it or not the League Cup is seen as a second rate competition up to and including the semi-final. 28,000 travelled down to London for an F.A. Cup semi-final. Go on, find fault with that. Quote
smithills_gent Posted October 30, 2013 Posted October 30, 2013 Tranmere was live on ITV, Villa was live on Sky, Swindon and Everton weren't live on TV. Quote
Mounts Kipper Posted October 31, 2013 Posted October 31, 2013 Tranmere was live on ITV, Villa was live on Sky, Swindon and Everton weren't live on TV. We are one of those clubs who's crowd is massively reduced for cup games if onTV many other clubs still turn out we don't, a sad fact of life for BWFC. Quote
COYW Posted October 31, 2013 Posted October 31, 2013 There are many different factors. Cup games no longer have the significance they once did. You can't really compare the crowds we got against Swindon and Everton with the crowds we got for Villa and Tranmere. Both the Swindon and Everton games were the biggest games we'd had in years. Everton was probably the biggest game we'd had since the cup runs of the 50s. Swindon was the biggest game we'd had since the Everton game. It's no wonder they attracted big crowds. Smaller clubs only have so many supporters. When big games become routine, people start picking and choosing. If the regulars decide not to go, there aren't a load of glory hunters queueing up to take their place. If we don't get back to the top flight for a while, cup crowds will probably increase as the novelty factor of playing top flight opposition increases. Quote
bwfc2003 Posted October 31, 2013 Posted October 31, 2013 i was allowed off school to watch the replay drew 3-3 a few days bbefore i think we played a midweek afternoon league game, too Sunderland - was Tueart making his debut for them? Quote
COYW Posted November 3, 2013 Posted November 3, 2013 did anyone clock the crowd at the Newcastle away game ? a tad short of 60,000....that's very impressive for a division 2 match did any of the older posters on here go up there ? I think that there were over 50,000 on when we played Spurs at White Hart Lane in the 1977/78 promotion season. Quote
miamiwhite Posted November 3, 2013 Author Posted November 3, 2013 I think that there were over 50,000 on when we played Spurs at White Hart Lane in the 1977/78 promotion season. think you're right there,plus over 50,000 on at roker park in the 75/76 season Quote
SatanGreavsie Posted November 3, 2013 Posted November 3, 2013 I think that there were over 50,000 on when we played Spurs at White Hart Lane in the 1977/78 promotion season. We played them 4 times that season - 2 in the league and cup match plus reply. Total crowd - 157,408! Quote
COYW Posted November 3, 2013 Posted November 3, 2013 We played them 4 times that season - 2 in the league and cup match plus reply. Total crowd - 157,408! 1975/76 season. 94,623 watched the two games against Sunderland in the Second Division. 139,245 watched the three games against Newcastle in the F.A. Cup. Those combined attendances for the league game can't have been bettered that often in the Second Division since. Quote
miamiwhite Posted November 3, 2013 Author Posted November 3, 2013 1975/76 season. 94,623 watched the two games against Sunderland in the Second Division. 139,245 watched the three games against Newcastle in the F.A. Cup. Those combined attendances for the league game can't have been bettered that often in the Second Division since. i watched the sheff wed/sheff utd match from boxing day 1979 earlier,it's also got footage from the return match at bramall lane. i didn't know there was 46,000 on that match. combined with the one at hillsborough,over 95,000 for two 3rd division games Quote
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