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Well any club of a city of our size and catchment can muster numbers for one off games
The problem is , as proved by the stats , is that they are very quick to vanish . Cardiff City has huge potential but its keeping these fans returning that separates us from Leeds , Sunderland , Derby etc
Surely you appreciate that having regular football at this level is helping our attendances? Sunderland, Derby etc have had this for years and years. I tend not to be all that bothered about attendances from many decades ago. I've proved in the past that clubs who have spent decades and decades in the top 2 divisions tend to hold onto their fans nowadays. We had almost 20 poor years in the bottom 2 tiers.
You mention Portsmouth. They had some really shit attendances in the 70s and 90s.
You do love picking your stats to suit.
I didn't say there was no interest
It's just that clubs like us , Bristol City, Swansea, Plymouth, Hull etc are able to take a big fan base to glamour games like Wembley........Wrexham are taking 20000 on Sunday.......but we just dont sustain it
We don't have the hardcore support that clubs bigger than us have
It would be great if we had a sustained period in the top division because that's the only thing that will unleash our potential
Who gives a feck
Well where is this fanbase when we need them ?
South Wales is full of big time fans , it's the same in the rugby
The difference between us and Sunderland , Newcastle etc is that they have a huge , active fanbase
And we don't
It's all about potential with us
When we were promoted to the championship under Lennie Lawrence after 17 years in the lower leagues we got a crowd for our first home game of 16421
We didn't even sell out ninian Park which at the time held 21000
Loads and loads of fans at the millennium to see Andy Campbell take us up , incredible scenes , 35000 fans
Yet we couldn't sell out our first home game ?
I mean if you want to argue we have a big fan base after that then carry on , I am off to 🛌
Yes, they were. Very much so.
Did you know that Chelsea had an average attendance of 30,850 as far back as 1907/08?
Their rankings in terms of average attendances for some of the early years of the Football League:
1907/08 - 1st
1908/09 - 2nd
1909/10 - 2nd
1910/11 - 3rd
1911/12 - 1st
1912/13 - 1st
1913/14 - 1st
1914/15 - 3rd
1919/20 - 1st
1920/21 - 2nd
1921/22 - 1st
1922/23 - 4th
1923/24 - 1st
1924/25 - 4th
1925/26 - 1st
1926/27 - 5th
1927/28 - 3rd
1928/29 - 6th
1929/30 - 6th
1930/31 - 2nd
In 1925/26, Chelsea topped the national attendance charts despite playing in the Second Division. The only other clubs who have done that are Manchester City (1927/28), Newcastle United (1946/47 and 1947/48), Tottenham Hotspur (1949/50) and Manchester United (1974/75).
Congratulations to all those who have participated in what is the one millionth thread about how “big” a club we are that has been posted on here in the twenty five years or so I’ve been using this messageboard. My one and only contribution will be to say that my preconceptions about City were shattered by what we averaged in 18/19 in our second season in the Premier League - this made me think some of the claims about the sort of crowds we could expect if we established ourselves in the top flight were not as mad as I had believed they were. So, in that sense, opinions I formed in the seventies and eighties may have been wrong or I was right, but we’ve moved on since those days and are a “bigger” club than we once were.
Sure thing:
1908/09 - Newcastle United
1909/10 - Tottenham Hotspur
1910/11 - Manchester City
1914/15 - Manchester City
1920/21 - Newcastle United
1922/23 - Liverpool
1924/25 - Liverpool
1926/27 - Newcastle United
1927/28 - Manchester City
1928/29 - Manchester City
1929/30 - Arsenal
1930/31 - Arsenal
Arsenal were the best-supported club in the country from 1929/30 to 1937/38 inclusive before Aston Villa topped the chart in the final pre-War season (1938/39). After the War, it was Newcastle (1946/47 to 1948/49), Tottenham (1949/50 to 1951/52), Arsenal (1952/53 and 1953/54), Chelsea (1954/55), Everton (1955/56) and then Manchester United (1956/57 to 1958/59).
Since as far back as 1900, only nine clubs have ever topped the attendance charts:
Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Tottenham Hotspur
impressive stats, thanks.
Despite their history, Chelsea only have the tenth largest stadium in England at 41,631. Newcastle , Sunderland and Villa are all bigger grounds. Only West Ham aren't in your list but now have a stadium larger than Chelsea.
Chelsea are certainly in the top ten historically, but then so are Villa.
Read into that whatever you want. It not relevant to Cardiff in any way, and I'm not sure why Sludge thinks it is.
Villa topped the attendance charts for the first time in 1898/99. They are currently ranked 8th in the Premier League averages. They've had their ups and downs, but they've always been well-supported. Back in 1971/72, they were ranked 12th in the country despite being in the old Division Three at the time.
Good good yes , all the nonsense spouted by so many of our fans and the media about us being a sleeping giant with this huge fanbase
Out first time in top two divisions for 17 years .....as we couldn't even sell 19000 tickets ?
I think it was an embarrassment
A season or two later , in the championship we had a big name manager in Dave Jones , his first game was Leeds .....15,500
We won an exciting game with a wonder goal from Jason koumas
A week later we played Watford
The crowd ? 9000
Yep , 9000 , in the championship , a week after beating Leeds
Where where all these fans ?
A very bad season and relegation and our 18000 average will plummet
You are deluded
I'm not sure of what your argument is. There aren't any of this thread that are arguing the city are a big football club. in fact, most accept that historically and at present, we're a middling 2nd tier club.
I'm pretty sure that the idea of a football super league was first mooted in the 1960s, (or maybe even 1950s) and you'd be surprised to know that the city were included in the discussions.