6,013

[The Lone Gunman]

Have Cardiff City ever had a smaller crowd against top-flight opposition in any competition than the 6,013 attendance against Brighton & Hove Albion? Not a rhetorical question, I honestly don't know the answer. However, I'd be very surprised if any competitive game against a team from the top division has ever attracted a smaller home crowd.

Some other EFL Cup crowds this evening:

20.090 - Norwich City v Bournemouth
10,769 - Nottingham, Forest v Wolves
10,459 - Huddersfield v Everton
7,973 - Sheffield Utd v Derby County
7,491 - Swansea City v Plymouth
6,193 - Stoke City v Doncaster

[stan butler]

Have Cardiff City ever had a smaller crowd against top-flight opposition in any competition than the 6,013 attendance against Brighton & Hove Albion? Not a rhetorical question, I honestly don't know the answer. However, I'd be very surprised if any competitive game against a team from the top division has ever attracted a smaller home crowd.

Some other EFL Cup crowds this evening:

20.090 - Norwich City v Bournemouth
10,769 - Nottingham, Forest v Wolves
10,459 - Huddersfield v Everton
7,973 - Sheffield Utd v Derby County
7,491 - Swansea City v Plymouth
6,193 - Stoke City v Doncaster

Why do you care ex fan

[The Lone Gunman]

Why do you care ex fan

I don't care. I'm interested, though.

I guess you must be too. After all, you opened this thread and replied to it.

[StraightOuttaCanton]

Have Cardiff City ever had a smaller crowd against top-flight opposition in any competition than the 6,013 attendance against Brighton & Hove Albion? Not a rhetorical question, I honestly don't know the answer. However, I'd be very surprised if any competitive game against a team from the top division has ever attracted a smaller home crowd.

Some other EFL Cup crowds this evening:

20.090 - Norwich City v Bournemouth
10,769 - Nottingham, Forest v Wolves
10,459 - Huddersfield v Everton
7,973 - Sheffield Utd v Derby County
7,491 - Swansea City v Plymouth
6,193 - Stoke City v Doncaster

Norwich are a Premier League team. The rest of the attendances are shit because it’s a shit competition

[Lawnmower]

Have Cardiff City ever had a smaller crowd against top-flight opposition in any competition than the 6,013 attendance against Brighton & Hove Albion? Not a rhetorical question, I honestly don't know the answer. However, I'd be very surprised if any competitive game against a team from the top division has ever attracted a smaller home crowd.

Some other EFL Cup crowds this evening:

20.090 - Norwich City v Bournemouth
10,769 - Nottingham, Forest v Wolves
10,459 - Huddersfield v Everton
7,973 - Sheffield Utd v Derby County
7,491 - Swansea City v Plymouth
6,193 - Stoke City v Doncaster

Brighton reserves are no draw for us. 3 centre backs apart it was a team of fringe/youth reserves and that was down to lack of options.

Looked like less than 300 Brighton fans there too- less than Sutton brought, so nit much interest for them either.

Saying that our crowds for cup games have been awful for years now.

Shows a few things I guess

- disinterest in cup games
- how reliant we are in selling season tickets
- how low walk ups are
- how few ‘die hards’ we really have

Will be 22k plus there for Saturday.

[insider]

I thought 6 k was quite a good crowd tbh.
I know they are so called top flight but Brighton reserves ain't actually a big pull for glory fans.
When I think back to some of the shocking crowds we've had for the 3rd round of the fa Cup in recent years it was a good crowd.

[Freitag 4.17]

Great turn out for Cardiff Reserves v Brighton Reserves IMO.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Norwich , Forest , bigger clubs than us

The rest are much of a muchness

Crowds for this cup are generally poor

Its a crap cup because of the feckin Premier league who only get interested if they are I the semi finals

Used to be a great laugh

We had 8000 v Chelsea when we beat them in the late 80s

People thought that was a big crowd

[Hilts]

Says something about the competition when I saw the attendance and thought good crowd.

Norwich crowd is incredible. Dont believe they are a bigger club than us though.

Just seen the Forest highlights. Looked a few thousand Wolves fans there.

Saying that if we were playing Man U reserves I reckon 20k there last night.

[Mario Miethig]

34000 for Leeds v Crewe. Fair play, that’s incredible!

[Citizen's Nephew]

34000 for Leeds v Crewe. Fair play, that’s incredible!

Wow! That’s amazing!

[Rjk]

Even without the pandemic our attendances would have been down a fair bit this season.

We never looked good enough to go up last season and none of our signings were likely to catch the attention of fair weather fans.

If we go on a good run then they'll be back.

[Shrewsbury Blue]

Agree win a few matches and the crowds will soon be above 20,0000 again as long as we don't sell Moore. If we do it will be the twenty first century equivalent to "I used to go down the city until we sold Toshack" I think too many fans have had dismal experiences of us in cup competitions in recent years to be too interested and although Brighton are a premiers league club they are not really in the eyes of many fans like we were when we were in the premier.

[The Lone Gunman]

I think too many fans have had dismal experiences of us in cup competitions in recent years to be too interested and although Brighton are a premier league club they are not really in the eyes of many fans like we were when we were in the premier.

Those fans should have a look at the league tables for the last few years. Brighton are currently playing in their fifth-consecutive Premier League season. They are very definitely a Premier League club.

[The Lone Gunman]

I've been through the record books this morning and City have indeed had lower crowds for games against top flight opposition on no less than three occasions - all in the League Cup and all in the the Eighties.

Incredibly, in a competition that has been running for more than 60 years, City have only faced top division opponents at home on 16 occasions, and only three times since the turn of the millennium. That says plenty about the club's feeble efforts in the League Cup over the years.

The crowds for each of the 16 home games against top flight opposition were as follows:

12,200 v Burnley (1960/61)
14,315 v West Ham (1965/66)
30,109 v West Ham (1971/72)
8,775 v Burnley (1973/74)
23,618 v QPR (1976/77)
9,698 v Everton (1979/80)
11,632 v Arsenal (1982/83)
4,425 v Norwich (1983/84)
4,607 v Watford (1984/85)
8,018 v Chelsea (1986/87)
2,629 v QPR (1988/89)
9,041 v Southampton (1995/96)
7,613 v Wimbledon (1999/00)
13,555 v Portsmouth (2004/05)
19,436 v Blackburn (2011/12)
6,013 v Brighton (2021/22)

In the Eighties, the League Cup was still a two-legged affair. In 1988/89, City went into the second leg against QPR already 0-3 down. Just 2,629 turned up to see another 1-4 defeat at Ninian Park. Alan Curtis scored the Cardiff goal.

It says plenty for the club's recent performances in the League Cup and the general perception of the competition that some apparently regard 6,013 as a 'good' crowd.....

[B. Oddie]

There'd be at least double that if it was the FA Cup. I'd be there for one!

I've no interest in the League Cup and have probably been to about 20 of them over the years.

[Dave Blue]

The crowd (bigger than I thought it would be) is a reflection of the apathy- first by the club and naturally followed by the fan base - shown to the cup since we got to 2 finals. Why such heights brought on this abject policy defeats me.

[Ivortheengine]

Those who chose not to go obviously had more sense.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Three home games in a week, one to one of our biggest rivals coming up on Saturday.

If you had a chance to watch 2 out of the 3, would you choose a league game against Millwall, a league game against Bristol City or a league cup tie against a side we've played quite often over the last few decades, who we did the double over when we were last in the PL and, even though they're a PL side, are hardly an attractive name?

15 years ago, playing a lower, less established PL side would have generated some sort of crowd. Not any more.

[The Lone Gunman]

Three home games in a week, one to one of our biggest rivals coming up on Saturday.

Back in November 2011, City had three home games in just over a week. The attendances were:

22,556 v Nottingham Forest (Championship)
19,436 v Blackburn (Carling Cup)
22,010 v Birmingham (Championship)

Admittedly the Carling Cup game was later in the competition, but I do think a crowd of just 6,013 for a game against a Premier League opponent is significant. Indeed, it was City's lowest attendance for such a match since the late-Eighties. I don't believe there's any one main factor at play, though. I think it's a combination of lots of things, including the unsatisfactory ticket office situation judging by what a couple of friends I was talking to last night were saying.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Back in November 2011, City had three home games in just over a week. The attendances were:

22,556 v Nottingham Forest (Championship)
19,436 v Blackburn (Carling Cup)
22,010 v Birmingham (Championship)

Admittedly the Carling Cup game was later in the competition, but I do think a crowd of just 6,013 for a game against a Premier League opponent is significant. Indeed, it was City's lowest attendance for such a match since the late-Eighties. I don't believe there's any one main factor at play, though. I think it's a combination of lots of things, including the unsatisfactory ticket office situation judging by what a couple of friends I was talking to last night were saying.

I think the fact that the Blackburn game was a quarter final is also significant! We had just over 8.5k for the previous round against Leicester.

It's interesting that a winnable quarter final in the league cup attracted a lower crowd than 2 league games. 4 seasons before when we reached the FA cup final, we played Norwich and Leicester in the league at home with the Wolves 5th round game somewhere in between. More people watched the FA cup tie than the two league games.

[The Lone Gunman]

7,002 at Newport’s game against Southampton this evening. County getting a bigger crowd than City. Strange times indeed.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

7,002 at Newport’s game against Southampton this evening. County getting a bigger crowd than City. Strange times indeed.

In fairness, Southampton for County is a far bigger draw than Brighton was for us.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

7,002 at Newport’s game against Southampton this evening. County getting a bigger crowd than City. Strange times indeed.

They won't be back anytime soon after the leathering county got tonight

[stan butler]

7,002 at Newport’s game against Southampton this evening. County getting a bigger crowd than City. Strange times indeed.

Not really.
Newport having Southampton home is big game for them.
Cardiff home to Brighton who we have played many times over the years is hardly a mouth watering game.