Spijed wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:48 am
Wonder whether there is a general drop in attendances across football.
Generally no but it's a mixed picture, Spurs are the notable example in the PL. And Bournemouth despite having an average of only slightly over 9k and bottom of Championship attendances have of course the backing of their Russian owner, well it least for now they do.
Further lengthy article here, which I've copied and pasted to avoid anybody scrolling through loads of pop-up's.
Have attendances returned to their pre-Covid levels? And has the return of fans had an impact on results?
When the 2021/22 season began in August 2021, it was the first time since March 2020 that full capacities were allowed for league matches in England. Whilst a lot of fans were eager to watch live football again, some fans were still sceptical of attending matches because of Covid-19 still being rife throughout the country.
Whilst games were being played behind closed doors, there was a general consensus that home advantage had weakened and away teams were picking more points up on the road because of this.
This article will focus on England’s top two divisions and discover whether attendances have returned to their pre-Covid levels as well as the return of fans’ impact on results.
The Premier League
England’s top flight hasn’t struggled to reach its pre-Covid levels and the average attendance of the Premier League has roughly stayed the same since Covid interrupted the league and put games behind closed doors. In the 2019/20 season, the Premier League had an average attendance of 39,315 and this season the average attendance figure stands at 39,371, a very slight increase of 56.
Whilst this does sound impressive, a few teams’ attendances have dropped slightly but the promotion of big teams from the Championship has helped keep the average up. Tottenham Hotspur’s average attendances have dropped by around 5,000 since pre-pandemic football, Spurs averaged 59,384 in 19/20 but have only averaged 54,677 this season. This may be more football related than Covid-19 related though, in 19/20 Spurs were playing the first full season at their new stadium and they had reached the Champions League final the previous season so it is no surprise that attendances have dropped.
The Premier League has benefitted from the average attendance of promoted teams such as Leeds United in keeping the leagues average at pre-pandemic levels. In the 19/20 season, relegated Bournemouth had the lowest attendance figures with an average of 10,510 and when you compare this to Leeds’s average of 36,207 it is easy to why the attendance figures haven’t dropped.
Fans weren’t able to attend any matches in 19/20 from early March onwards and the entire 20/21 season was played behind closed doors or with minimal attendances allowed, did this make an impact on home advantage?
In The 19/20 season, the home win percentage in the Premier League was 45% whilst the away win percentage in the Premier League was 31% and teams in the Premier League on average performed 23% better at home. As mentioned above, this was a season in which a lot of the games were played with fans in attendance so any increase in away wins wasn’t going to make too big of a difference in this season’s figures.
However, in the 20/21 season, what a lot of people predicted came to fruition and away teams’ results improved massively. The home win percentage in the Premier League was 38% compared to an away win percentage of 40% and teams in the Premier League on average only performed 1% better at home.
We’re now into the final third of the 2021/22 Premier League season and the record of away teams has fallen back down to a similar level that it was before games had a limit on attendances. The home win percentage in the Premier League is 40% compared to an away win percentage of 33% and Premier League teams on average perform 15% better at home.
This shows that in the Premier League, away teams picked up a lot more points when there were little to no fans in attendance. Managers and players always stress the impact fans can have on their teams’ fortunes and the figures above prove this to be true, the return of fans in stadiums has the seen the form of home teams improve and this is a trend that is likely to continue unless matches are ever put behind closed doors again.
The Championship
Unlike the Premier League, the average attendance of the Championship is lower than what it was pre-Covid. In the 2019/20 season, the average attendance for the second tier was 18,645 but this season the league has an average attendance of 16,537, a decrease of 2,108. Whilst Covid may have kept some fans away, there is a number of reasons as to why the average has dropped.
Whilst Leeds’s promotion has had a positive effect on Premier League attendances, it has affected the Championship negatively. The White’s had the highest average attendance in the 19/20 Championship season, attracting an average of 35,321 to Elland Road. Sheffield United, who were relegated from the top flight last season, have taken over from Leeds and can boast the highest average attendance this season but it isn’t close to the average of Leeds. The Blades have averaged 27,301 fans at Bramall Lane this season, just over 8,000 less than the average of Leeds. The Whites also sold out every away allocation in the 19/20 season, boosting the home attendances of clubs in the league and whilst some current Championship clubs have good away followings, none of them can compare to Leeds’s numbers.
On top of this, Nottingham Forest, Derby County and West Bromwich Albion, who had the second, third and fourth highest average attendance in the 19/20 season, respectively, find themselves in the same positions on the attendance table this season but all their figures have dropped. Forest had a poor start to this season but have improved massively since and their attendances are now similar to what they were pre-pandemic. Due to the poor start, they had lower attendances for the first few games and this has impacted their average. The Reds averaged 27,748 in 19/20 and have an average attendance of 26,487 for this season.
West Brom’s performances on the pitch and their fans disappointment with the owners has seen a drop in attendances at the Hawthorns. The Baggies averaged 24,162 fans in the 19/20 season but have only averaged 22,089 this season.
Derby County have suffered the biggest drop in attendances and this is largely down to the state of the club off the pitch. The Rams didn’t open the ticket office or sell season tickets until after the Championship season had already started and this led to Derby getting their lowest attendances for league games since the days of the Baseball Ground. Derby could only manage attendances of just over 16,000 against Huddersfield and Middlesbrough earlier this season but their gates have slowly increased due to performances on the pitch and the need to raise money due to the club being in administration. Derby can boast the two highest attendances in the Championship this season, attracting 32,211 fans against Birmingham and 30,251 against Peterborough, these attendances have helped massively increase their average attendance. The club have an average attendance of 22,225 this season in comparison to 26,727 for the 19/20 season, a decrease of 4,502.
Whilst the loss of fans had a huge impact on home teams in the Premier League, it didn’t make too much of an impact on home teams in the Championship.
In the 19/20 season Championship season, the home win percentage was 42% compared to an away win percentage of 32% and teams on average performed 14% better at home. When all games were played with fan restrictions in the 20/21 season, the fortunes of away teams did improve but you wouldn’t have batted an eye if it was a normal season because the numbers hadn’t changed too much from the previous season.
The 2020/21 season saw a home win percentage of 41% and away win percentage of 34%, home teams in the Championship on average performed 18% better at home, an increase of 4% from the previous season.
This 21/22 has seen home advantage play an even bigger part, so whilst the loss of fans may have made little to no difference, the return of fans has seen home teams improve on pre-pandemic numbers. This season has seen a home win percentage of 44% and away win percentage of 29%, home teams in the Championship on average perform 27% better at home.
The Premier League’s average attendance has been similar to pre-pandemic figures meaning that top flight sides haven’t struggled to get fans through the door but the Championship average attendance has dropped. Whilst the pandemic may have put some fans off, other factors have turned most fans away from second tier matches this season and Leeds promotion to the Premier League hasn’t helped the average either.
However, the Championship’s home and away win percentage didn’t change too much behind closed doors but the Premier League saw a huge uptake in away wins and away teams won more games than home teams in the 20/21 season.
The Covid-19 pandemic affected the leagues in different ways and it would be interesting to what happened if games were ever put behind closed doors again in the future.
I just need a break from going on matches - the disillusionment is too much at the moment. There is too much wrong with the game.