| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:33 - Apr 20 with 2056 views | SpruceMoose |
Paywall. What's your email address and log in password? |  |
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| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:33 - Apr 20 with 2057 views | JakeITFC |
Can you copy and paste in here please? I don't have a premium account. |  | | |
| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:35 - Apr 20 with 2036 views | Heathlander |
Patrick Scott , Senior Data Journalist
19 April 2018 - 10:34am
From an outside perspective, English football appears in rude health. Drawn in by its swashbuckling style and competitive nature, broadcasters are prepared to pay billions more for the rights to show Premier League matches than for fixtures in the rest of Europe's top leagues.
The world's top players and managers - able to command more in wages than abroad - are coming to play in England resulting in stronger showing in European competitions of late.
Average attendances across the Premier League and the three divisions of the Football League are also enjoying a slight uptick with 9,798 people viewing the average game in the current season to the end of March. This is up by 1.6 per cent compared to the equivalent period last season and the second highest figure for any of the past eight seasons.
However, further down the football pyramid, where the glamour and quality of the football is lessened and the wealth is less abundant, there are signs that fan support is cooling.
A Telegraph analysis of the match attendances for every club in the current Football League over the past eight seasons has identified a small group of clubs who are in stasis and have nothing left to play for this season, where attendances are starting to slide.
Ipswich Town are one such club. They are currently sitting in the middle of the Championship - a league they have played in since 2004-05 - without any realistic prospect of relegation or promotion. Their (now former) manager, Mick McCarthy, was due to leave the club at the end of the season but quit four games early last week.
In their most recent home fixture on Tuesday 10 April, just 13,271 turned out at Portman Road to watch their team beat Barnsley in McCarthy's last game in charge. This was the third-lowest attendance for any of their home fixtures in the past eight seasons according to the figures, collected from football statistics website Soccerbase.
It means that seven of Ipswich's 10 lowest home attendances in the past eight years have come this season with the nadir being when just 13,031 fans turned up to watch their game against Hull City on 13th April.
This record low followed on almost immediately from the previous record low of 13,205 that was set a couple of weeks earlier against Cardiff.
It means that average attendances at Portman Road so far this season are the lowest they have been for at least eight years. An average of 15,348 fans have attended each home game this season, down from 19,146 at the same point two years ago.
This is not meant as an attack on Ipswich Town. There are very similar situations at clubs like Stevenage, who are in their fourth season in League Two following relegation from League One in 2013/14.
Lying, like Ipswich, in mid-table with little to excite for the remainder of the season, average attendances at home games are a fifth lower so far this season, relative to the same stage in each of the last three years.
Morecambe, Stevenage, Fleetwood and Cambridge all also fit this profile. They have been in the same league in each of the past four seasons, are currently at least six points adrift of either relegation or promotion and have falling attendances. (Stevenage's attendances will be affected due to their 600 capacity north terrace being closed since January. However prior to this the same trend can be observed).
Even among teams within six points of relegation or promotion - like Gillingham, Derby, Walsall, Rochdale and Peterborough who have a chance to break from their stasis - attendances are down this season compared to the previous three.
There is an important distinction to make here between teams whose attendances are falling due to a drop in league position or fan unrest and those where numbers are falling due to stasis.
All the clubs mentioned so far fit into the latter category. Blackpool, for example, are a case of the former two scenarios rolled into one.
Riding high in the Premier League with an average attendance of 15,666 in the 2010/11 season to March, fans have since endured three relegations, a promotion and a lawsuit filed against them by their club's owner.
Average attendances at Bloomfield Road so far this season are down to 3,446 - a drop of more than three quarters. But with such turmoil at the club and a boycott by large numbers of supporters, that's to be expected.
What could cause concern for the Football League is a further slide in crowd numbers at clubs where excitement is thin on the ground.
At the top of the pyramid, attendances are generally rising where stadiums are not already routinely sold out.* There is still more than enough excitement and allure to attract the punters, even if the demographics are shifting.
However, for lower league clubs seemingly going nowhere and with little left to play for, you could understand why supporters might choose to use their leisure time pursuing something less expensive and less of a slog than following their team.
In these technologically advanced times there are just too many easier - and cheaper - options for entertainment for the Football League to become complacent about its appeal to fans.
Facing the prospect of a cold midweek fixture with little reward for a win or recrimination for a loss, fans may increasingly choose to stay home with the family. Or their large TV and enthralling streaming services.
The last time Ipswich spent five consecutive seasons in English football's second tier was 1986/87 to 1990/91. Attendances were up and down during this period, but only between a range of 12,800 and 11,800 - there wasn't the sustained slide that we are witnessing today.
Along with an explosion in the variety of leisure opportunities available to fans in the intervening years, the experience of attending football matches has changed significantly.
All-seater stadia has made going to the football tamer. It is undoubtedly safer but also significantly more expensive. That drives up the expectations of a quality product, and given how easy it is to watch excellent football from around the world on TV or online the appeal of the 'authentic' in-person experience begins to wane somewhat.
There is no crisis in lower league attendance yet. The clubs picked out in our analysis may well turn their fortunes around. However, these are warning signs that if nothing changes the tradition of healthy crowds deep into the Football League could be at risk.
*All football attendance figures come with a health warning in this regard because the statistics reported by clubs tend to include season ticket holders, regardless of whether these fans turned up for a given match. This can inflate attendance figures fairly significantly as this excellent blog post from Peter Wells explains. [Post edited 20 Apr 2018 15:42]
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| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:37 - Apr 20 with 2008 views | SpruceMoose |
| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:35 - Apr 20 by Heathlander |
Patrick Scott , Senior Data Journalist
19 April 2018 - 10:34am
From an outside perspective, English football appears in rude health. Drawn in by its swashbuckling style and competitive nature, broadcasters are prepared to pay billions more for the rights to show Premier League matches than for fixtures in the rest of Europe's top leagues.
The world's top players and managers - able to command more in wages than abroad - are coming to play in England resulting in stronger showing in European competitions of late.
Average attendances across the Premier League and the three divisions of the Football League are also enjoying a slight uptick with 9,798 people viewing the average game in the current season to the end of March. This is up by 1.6 per cent compared to the equivalent period last season and the second highest figure for any of the past eight seasons.
However, further down the football pyramid, where the glamour and quality of the football is lessened and the wealth is less abundant, there are signs that fan support is cooling.
A Telegraph analysis of the match attendances for every club in the current Football League over the past eight seasons has identified a small group of clubs who are in stasis and have nothing left to play for this season, where attendances are starting to slide.
Ipswich Town are one such club. They are currently sitting in the middle of the Championship - a league they have played in since 2004-05 - without any realistic prospect of relegation or promotion. Their (now former) manager, Mick McCarthy, was due to leave the club at the end of the season but quit four games early last week.
In their most recent home fixture on Tuesday 10 April, just 13,271 turned out at Portman Road to watch their team beat Barnsley in McCarthy's last game in charge. This was the third-lowest attendance for any of their home fixtures in the past eight seasons according to the figures, collected from football statistics website Soccerbase.
It means that seven of Ipswich's 10 lowest home attendances in the past eight years have come this season with the nadir being when just 13,031 fans turned up to watch their game against Hull City on 13th April.
This record low followed on almost immediately from the previous record low of 13,205 that was set a couple of weeks earlier against Cardiff.
It means that average attendances at Portman Road so far this season are the lowest they have been for at least eight years. An average of 15,348 fans have attended each home game this season, down from 19,146 at the same point two years ago.
This is not meant as an attack on Ipswich Town. There are very similar situations at clubs like Stevenage, who are in their fourth season in League Two following relegation from League One in 2013/14.
Lying, like Ipswich, in mid-table with little to excite for the remainder of the season, average attendances at home games are a fifth lower so far this season, relative to the same stage in each of the last three years.
Morecambe, Stevenage, Fleetwood and Cambridge all also fit this profile. They have been in the same league in each of the past four seasons, are currently at least six points adrift of either relegation or promotion and have falling attendances. (Stevenage's attendances will be affected due to their 600 capacity north terrace being closed since January. However prior to this the same trend can be observed).
Even among teams within six points of relegation or promotion - like Gillingham, Derby, Walsall, Rochdale and Peterborough who have a chance to break from their stasis - attendances are down this season compared to the previous three.
There is an important distinction to make here between teams whose attendances are falling due to a drop in league position or fan unrest and those where numbers are falling due to stasis.
All the clubs mentioned so far fit into the latter category. Blackpool, for example, are a case of the former two scenarios rolled into one.
Riding high in the Premier League with an average attendance of 15,666 in the 2010/11 season to March, fans have since endured three relegations, a promotion and a lawsuit filed against them by their club's owner.
Average attendances at Bloomfield Road so far this season are down to 3,446 - a drop of more than three quarters. But with such turmoil at the club and a boycott by large numbers of supporters, that's to be expected.
What could cause concern for the Football League is a further slide in crowd numbers at clubs where excitement is thin on the ground.
At the top of the pyramid, attendances are generally rising where stadiums are not already routinely sold out.* There is still more than enough excitement and allure to attract the punters, even if the demographics are shifting.
However, for lower league clubs seemingly going nowhere and with little left to play for, you could understand why supporters might choose to use their leisure time pursuing something less expensive and less of a slog than following their team.
In these technologically advanced times there are just too many easier - and cheaper - options for entertainment for the Football League to become complacent about its appeal to fans.
Facing the prospect of a cold midweek fixture with little reward for a win or recrimination for a loss, fans may increasingly choose to stay home with the family. Or their large TV and enthralling streaming services.
The last time Ipswich spent five consecutive seasons in English football's second tier was 1986/87 to 1990/91. Attendances were up and down during this period, but only between a range of 12,800 and 11,800 - there wasn't the sustained slide that we are witnessing today.
Along with an explosion in the variety of leisure opportunities available to fans in the intervening years, the experience of attending football matches has changed significantly.
All-seater stadia has made going to the football tamer. It is undoubtedly safer but also significantly more expensive. That drives up the expectations of a quality product, and given how easy it is to watch excellent football from around the world on TV or online the appeal of the 'authentic' in-person experience begins to wane somewhat.
There is no crisis in lower league attendance yet. The clubs picked out in our analysis may well turn their fortunes around. However, these are warning signs that if nothing changes the tradition of healthy crowds deep into the Football League could be at risk.
*All football attendance figures come with a health warning in this regard because the statistics reported by clubs tend to include season ticket holders, regardless of whether these fans turned up for a given match. This can inflate attendance figures fairly significantly as this excellent blog post from Peter Wells explains. [Post edited 20 Apr 2018 15:42]
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Can you put that into paragraphs please? | |
| Pronouns: He/Him/His.
"Imagine being a heterosexual white male in Britain at this moment. How bad is that. Everything you say is racist, everything you say is homophobic. The Woke community have really f****d this country." | | Poll: | Selectamod |
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| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:42 - Apr 20 with 1982 views | Heathlander |
| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:37 - Apr 20 by SpruceMoose |
Can you put that into paragraphs please? |
your wish is my command. | | | |
| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:44 - Apr 20 with 1970 views | SpruceMoose |
| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:42 - Apr 20 by Heathlander |
your wish is my command. |
It's great having powerful friends! Thanks! | |
| Pronouns: He/Him/His.
"Imagine being a heterosexual white male in Britain at this moment. How bad is that. Everything you say is racist, everything you say is homophobic. The Woke community have really f****d this country." | | Poll: | Selectamod |
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| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:52 - Apr 20 with 1933 views | JakeITFC |
Cheers Heathy. | | | |
| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 15:59 - Apr 20 with 1894 views | SouperJim |
Thanks OP.
"All-seater stadia has made going to the football tamer. It is undoubtedly safer but also significantly more expensive. That drives up the expectations of a quality product, and given how easy it is to watch excellent football from around the world on TV or online the appeal of the 'authentic' in-person experience begins to wane somewhat."
Safe standing ftw. |  |
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| Why Ipswich Town's attendances could be a warning sign for the Football League on 10:11 - Apr 21 with 1490 views | Ely_Blue |
I think this article needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, given the position of Forest at the moment it was amazing to see 25k loyal fans in a 30k seater stadium for a team in not too much of a dissimilar position to ours |  |
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