Followers of Wigan Athletic, Sheffield United et al pointed the finger at West Ham claiming they'd cheated on the rest of the Premier League, and in return West Ham fans turned to Wigan with suggestions that they're a small club not fit for purpose in the top flight.
And what's the reasoning behind that particular argument? Well let's just say it appears to be a lack of support on the part of the Wigan fans. It doesn't take the most well-honed observation skills to notice that the JJB Stadium is somewhat underfilled on any given matchday, and perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by that.
Wigan has traditionally been a rugby town most notably fielding strong teams in the League code for the last hundred years or more. Wigan Athletic Football Club only became a fully-fledged League team in 1978, and by the time that happened, few seemed willing to devote themselves to a life following the round ball game. The trend for scarce supporting of the local football team was therefore set for many years to come.
Yet after nearly three decades floundering in the lower divisions of the English game, Wigan finally reached the top flight in 2005 and this was seen as the best chance ever to attract more supporters to the club. Sadly, attendance figures struggled to reach any ambitious targets that may have been set, despite the recently-built JJB Stadium being a modern and attractive home venue.
So just how did Wigan compare to other clubs when it came to filling up their stadium during the 2006/2007 Premier League season? As ever, we at Some People Are On The Pitch decided to crunch those all-important numbers to find out...*
First of all, let's consider stadia capacity in the Premier League. Old Trafford and the Emirates Stadium are at the top of the list and rather admirably they were over 99% full throughout last season. So if Man United and Arsenal were able to fill huge stadia with capacities of 60,000 to 80,000, surely it should be easy to do the same with a stadium containing around 20,000 seats, right?
Right - if you're Watford, Portsmouth, Fulham or Reading. Wrong, however, if you're Wigan. Their stadium is, capacity-wise, the fifth smallest in the Premier League at 25,138, yet over the whole of the last season it was only ever 72.2% full. Not particularly impressive, it has to be said.
Somewhat surprising is that Wigan's stadium wasn't the emptiest overall. That goes to Blackburn's Ewood Park which, despite having a capacity of 31,154, was only 68.2% full all season.
At the other end of the scale, a special mention should go to Sheffield United who, prior to relegation, kept their 30,000-seater stadium over 99.4% full this year. And that's really where we come back to our original point.
For some, a club that has a strong, loyal following can earn great respect regardless of how big it is. It can be forgiven the occasional grumble when things aren't going so well because you know the support and love of its fans will carry it through in the end.
Looking at the graph above, however, you're left with the feeling that out of Sheffield United and Wigan, perhaps the wrong team were relegated. They may have had Neil Warnock as manager, but at least Sheffield United could earn great respect from the devoted following of its huge army of fans.
* Source: Football365
Number crunching maybe, but sweeping generalizations and outdated cliches abound also....
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could reconsider your misplaced assertion that Wigan is a Rugby League town by examing the average attendances of the Warriors next to those of Wigan Athletic over the past two seaons.
You could also define your definition of "disappoining attendances" in the context of Wigan being the club with the highest increase in support year on year over the past 10 years of any other club in the football league....
You could also crunch some numbers such as the current population stats for the city of Manchester, for Merseyside and even Blackburn and then have look at those for the catchment area of Wigan Athletic, (ie - Wigan Borough). Can you extrapolate any meaningful conclusiosn when contrasting this small town and its sporting attendance with the metropolis of Manchester and the CITY of Sheffield? I wonder what ratio of Sheffield residents attends Sheffield United games compared to the ratio of Wigan residents who support their local team?
I wonder will you have the inclination to reveal that the rate of support in Wigan, therefore VASTLY eexceeds that of our recently relegated friends, or willyou prefer to rely on the hackneyed "ours is bigger than yours" drivel.
As for your spurious assertion that the wrong team were releagted: you seem to base this conclusion entirely upon the attendance rate for each club. I may have missed something here, but I'm sure that they still decide such matters on results on the pitch of play do they not? Meaning Sheffield got what they deserved, as did Wigan, (though possibly not West Ham).
finally: "Sheffield United could earn great respect from the devoted following of its huge army of fans"
Maybe, but they certainly wont earn any money from Premiership appearances next season, and I know which I'd prefer...
Thanks for your reply.
ReplyDeleteThe stat of 1 in 4 of the local Wigan population through the turnstyles in an interesting one. When you consider that last season Wigan sold over 12,000 season tickets, and regularly added another 1000 to 3000 home fans for certain games, it seems that maybe support for football in the town is at an extremely high rate....
It is also expected that season ticket sales may hit the 15000 mark for the coming season.
The attendance for the appalling game against West Ham on 28.04.07 saw 24,726 in attendance. With the away end a sell out, we can safely extrapolate that 19326 were there in support of Wigan. As you say, that's 1 in 4 of the local population turning up for a football game. I do doubt that you will find such a ratio anywhere else.
The previous season figures were even more impressive, and were sadly dented by a ridiculous 40% increase in matchday prices. I defy any club bar Man Utd to hike prices by this amount and not see an impact on attendances.
I do not pretend for a moment that Wigan Athletic are a well attended club in Premier League terms. We are undoubtedly the smallest club in the top flight, and smaller than many, (if not the majority), in the lower leagues. However, this is what makes football the interesting and dynamic game it still is despite the vast sums of money now floating around the game.
When you consider that the transfer balance from when Paul Jewell took over amounts to a deficit of only £4m, Wigan have proven that it still doesnt take huge investment to "buy" a place in the top flight. Another myth concerning Wigans rise to the top is that it was bankrolled at huge expense by whelans millions. Obviously the capital was there, but £4m is peanuts in modern terms. With a year on year increase in attendances from a paltry 2,500 it is clear that progressive football, steady growth and a fair bit of luck can take almost any club from obscurity to the big leagues.
Irrespective of crowd sizes, is this not a "good thing" in that it revitalises the game, adds fresh blood and feeds the aspirations of every club and supporter outside of the big 3?
Wigan are a small club success story that have demonstrated exponential growth in stature and support over the last decade, and provided we maintain our Premiership status, look set to continue to grow. To dismiss us as unworthy of Premier league status due to current attendances, as many flippantly do, is as ill-informed as it is shortsighted and lazy, (yourself excepted).
As we have seen, closer examination of a few statistics show that support is not quite as pathetic as it would seem when erroneously contrasted with the liks of Liverpool, Man Utd et al, (also worth noting that within our loose catchment area we have 6 other Premier League alone).
To answer the other posters queries:
Any tickets unsold to home fans remain unsold. There is no matchday entrance.
Yes, a significant proportion of the Latics support also attend Rugby League games. When either side have a particularly big game, the others attendances are often affected, espescially as the rugby tend to play on a Friday night or sunday afternoon, leading to 2 fixtures at the stadium in 48 hours!
Add to this the glorychasers who have for many years chosen to ally themselves with our more prestigous neighbours up the road in Liverpool and Manchester, and you will hopefully apprciate that 1 in 4 of the local population, is a stunning figure even if it is an infrequent occurence!
It may have escaped the author’s attention but football is played on the pitch not on the terraces.
ReplyDeletePremier league football teams are solely judged by the points they accrue over 38 matches not by the size of the crowd or number of prawn sandwich they sell.
Had the author taken the time to contact Wigan Athletic, he’d have found it has more fans under 16 year of age than any other Premiership club.
Chris O wrote...
ReplyDelete'If I was being paid to write for The Times sports section, I'd have done a lot more research and reasoning, believe me!'
Please Chris 0, get a job with Times then. Because the Times hacks that I always come across clearly don't do any research at all!
Fair play to you for getting a debate going.
A point to ponder for you is perhaps that just because Wigan are deemed a small club by the ignorant masses, it is just as well the Latics fans are passionate about their club to stand and fight their corner!
10 years ago wigan were playing in front of 1200.last season we averaged over 20,000.can any other premier league club match that or any other team,i think not.when will people realise that you dont get points for filling stadiums.we are where we are on merit,by gaining promotion by scoring more points than anyone else and then staying there.if we get relegated it will be because we are not good enough,not beacause our crowds are poor.
ReplyDeleteMy first match was 12 years ago in front of 1500 against Notts County. Find me a club whose attendances have grown as much in the short amount of time and then come back to me. The article may have a smidgen of relevance then.
ReplyDeleteI agree on both counts, Weenie! Thanks very much for your comments!
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