I've always thought geographical location and history has played a part in the size of Cardiff City's support.

We are beside the sea - which means that when compared to towns and cities inland, half of our potential catchment area is water. But other cities like Portsmouth sit beside the sea and historically they have had larger crowds. The difference is that there is a rival for our sporting interest, a rival which is significantly more popular and which has absorbed the working classes, providing them with an outlet which has distracted them from their weekly toil and grind.

I remember Cardiff City from the 1950s. I supported Pompey then - seeing my first game in 1953 with my idols Peter Harris, Jimmy Dickinson and Duggie Reid. The crowds then were a breathtaking crush. As a nipper I was passed down over the shoulders of the crowd to the front by a concrete barrier. In the mid-fifties we were in with a chance of winning the title, but Chelsea drew with us in a match I recall and that was that. There was one outstanding round of games with Cardiff. Pompey were in real danger of relegation and at Easter time, teams played the same club home and away.We played Cardiff that year, won both games and stayed up. Working-class Pompey men have football in their blood. We were a top team in the 40s and 50s - even today in League One, there are more than 17,000 season ticket holders. But there was no alternative for our sporting thrills.

One final recollection: Peter Harris was a brilliant right winger, capped by England and unfortunate to be alive in the Stanley Matthews era. He lived near us and I would regularly see him on match-day mornings, shopping with his wife. When I came to Cardiff, I'd see John Charles at Rhiwbina and later Brian Clark at Coryton - though they had stopped playing by then, of course. I wonder how many fans see their idols these days in such mundane settings.

For the future, our Premiership season showed we could sell out CCS for games against the bigger clubs and encouraged the building of another tier on the Ninian (a folly today). I think the gradual increase in the popularity of football at Cardiff is mainly down to TV coverage. If we got back in the Premiership with a good team and a competent manger, I reckon we would get 30,000+ gates.