Attendances are quite interesting to look at. Here's our averages since we've been at the new stadium:

2009/10 - 20,717 (Championship)
2010/11 - 23,193 (Championship)
2011/12 - 22,100 (Championship)
2012/13 - 22,998 (Championship)
2013/14 - 27,429 (Premier League)
2014/15 - 21,123 (Championship)
2015/16 - 16,255 (Championship)
2016/17 - 16,564 (Championship)
2017/18 - 19,891 (Championship)

This overview suggests that things are getting better.

In the season immediately following Tan's decision to change shirt colours, our average attendance increased, no doubts due to our Championship winning season, not the shirt change. Had we stayed in blue I reckon we could have added a few thousand to that average attendance. We obviously sold out for our season in the top flight then suffered as a result of relegation.

Over the space of two seasons from Premier League relegation to Russell Slade's first full season, we lost 11,000 fans. That's not unusual, though I'm not saying that it happens to all teams, either. I remember doing a comparison on relegated teams' attendances and many lost large numbers of support, dropping quite a bit lower than attendances in the run up to promotion.

More established teams, when they get relegated, seem to not suffer much of a drop in crowds - Villa's is at a similar level to their last season in the Premier League, while Newcastle's average rose when they were relegated! I suspect this is much to do with having consistently large crowds over a long timescale, where going to games is ingrained.

Our Leeds attendance is unusual this season as, in recent times, Leeds haven't been the draw at home that you'd suspect. A great ticketing offer and the chance to beat the league leaders was always going to bring in a bumper crowd of people that wouldn't necessarily come week in, week out.

We should be happy that our crowds are increased on the last couple of seasons. 15 years ago we would have been delighted with a 5-figure crowd! We had 20 years in the doldrums where 5,000 at a game was an achievement at times. We lost fans over the red shirts as we know and some that have gone back haven't the enthusiasm they once did. Yes, we're capable of getting a large crowd if the conditions are right (call them glory hunters or whatever). I feel that we're trying to reestablish ourselves again and it's coming.