Attendances

[Pat Butchers Ring]

Pretty concerned at the number of people going along to games at the moment especially post pandemic. The club are stating the figures to be around the 12k mark when in reality I think its a lot less.

Given everything going on at the moment (both at the cub and in general life) i understand why people might be staying away but do you think we could pick a game whereby the club do a bit of promotion to get people back along. The atmosphere at games with club 1871 isnt bad at all, we are playing entertaining football and theres definitely goals. I just feel if we could get people along they might just start to come back again.

I think the club tried this a few years ago at a xmas game against Burton (which we duely lost and was awful) but i feel it could work. The club could offer a free pint/free buses/free tickets for ST holders to encourage more along. Luton at home is the last saturday game before Xmas so would be ideal to try to get 16k-17k along, have a pint and create a decent atmosphere.

Thoughts?

[NathStPaul]

Every club around the country inflates their attendance figures, nothing new.

We were on TV, it was a lunchtime kick off. Always going to be a low attendance.

If we continue to win games and get in and around the playoffs our attendances will go up, we have the most fairweather fanbase in professional football.

[Zip]

Is it a lot less than the figures being published? The East and South Stands are seeing decent numbers.

[Hound]

I think they'll grow. No real surprise people have stayed away with Covid/being on TV/being away on holiday

Few more wins along the lines of Fulham and Boro and people will start coming back. Genuinely have a pretty exciting team at the moment, esp if we can get Joao back in the mix

[Nameless]

if clubs inflate their attendances then they are fairly daft as the tax man will be after them for the full VAT.
Clubs haven't published 'attendance' figures for years. They report tickets. Therefore any tickets sold but not used are counted, any complimentary tickets given out but not used are counted. Hence what can seem like a sell out can have empty seats. in some sports more comps are given out than match day tickets are sold. Don't think it happens so much with us but London Irish used to give away huge numbers.

[Pat Butchers Ring]

Is it a lot less than the figures being published? The East and South Stands are seeing decent numbers.

From where I am in the corner of the North/East stands its never been quieter. Sat with a whole row of seats all around me. Club 1871 doesnt look as busy as it was pre pandemic. North and West stands look very quiet.

[Zip]

Is it a lot less than the figures being published? The East and South Stands are seeing decent numbers.

From where I am in the corner of the North/East stands its never been quieter. Sat with a whole row of seats all around me. Club 1871 doesnt look as busy as it was pre pandemic. North and West stands look very quiet.

North is very thin on the ground but away fans are filling much of their part of the South Stand. With club 1871 on the other side of that stand there will be around 3,000 in that stand alone for the better away support.

[Chairman Mao]

post pandemic

[RG30]

It's been interesting to see Premier League attendances from afar and the struggles of certain clubs. Loads of empty seats at Arsenal Chelsea for instance, Brighton and Palace have both struggled to sell out home matches when they've been at full capacity pre pandemic and It's never been easier to get tickets for Liverpool. The lack of tourism travel has to be a huge driving factor behind this.

As for Reading, the away attendances have been very healthy (1600 Fulham, 1300 Coventry, 900 Stoke) but home attendances have been particularly poor. Pricing can't be an excuse because we are as competitive as any club in the division. Probably a lack of quality football over recent seasons and getting out of the habit of attending for a lot of people over the past 18 months.

[Orion1871]

One of the very few things I agreed with R*n G*urley on was that the club just aren't very good at advertising.

How many people in Reading know that a match day ticket can cost as low as 20 quid? I feel most people just dismiss the whole sport (rightly most of the time) to be too expensive and therefore out of their reach.

There was a bus that went round with RFC advertising on it, where is that these days? Last I saw it it still had Stam on there, but that was a couple of years ago so it's probably been got rid of by now.

Yes we've been shit for quite a while but that can't be the whole reason for low attendance.

[Pat Butchers Ring]

It's been interesting to see Premier League attendances from afar and the struggles of certain clubs. Loads of empty seats at Arsenal Chelsea for instance, Brighton and Palace have both struggled to sell out home matches when they've been at full capacity pre pandemic and It's never been easier to get tickets for Liverpool. The lack of tourism travel has to be a huge driving factor behind this.

As for Reading, the away attendances have been very healthy (1600 Fulham, 1300 Coventry, 900 Stoke) but home attendances have been particularly poor. Pricing can't be an excuse because we are as competitive as any club in the division. Probably a lack of quality football over recent seasons and getting out of the habit of attending for a lot of people over the past 18 months.

I definitely think its a habit that a lot of people have got out of hence the reason of having a bit of a promo to get people back. Free booze and buses etc would work well IMO.

Oh and Real madrid of the south not selling out, better keep that quiet they would never admit that.

[RG30]

https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/championship/attendances

15th highest average in the Championship at 13,182 but 20th in average percentage of stadium filled at 54.5%

[Pat Butchers Ring]

13k average would suggest weve had a few attendances over 13k. I can only think of one possibly two (Bristol City).

Feels like weve gone back 20 years to pre Mad Stad days where a 13k crowd was decent

[JR]

if clubs inflate their attendances then they are fairly daft as the tax man will be after them for the full VAT.
Clubs haven't published 'attendance' figures for years. They report tickets. Therefore any tickets sold but not used are counted, any complimentary tickets given out but not used are counted. Hence what can seem like a sell out can have empty seats. in some sports more comps are given out than match day tickets are sold. Don't think it happens so much with us but London Irish used to give away huge numbers.

The inflation point is that clubs count all their season ticket holders whether they walk through the turnstile or not.

So the realistic in the ground figure could easily be 2-3k less

[The Royal Forester]

13k average would suggest weve had a few attendances over 13k. I can only think of one possibly two (Bristol City).

Feels like weve gone back 20 years to pre Mad Stad days where a 13k crowd was decent

13,000 at Elm Park? I can remember the days when 10,000 was classed as exceptional, Hopefully the days of attendances of 5-6K are long gone.

[Green]

https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/championship/attendances

15th highest average in the Championship at 13,182 but 20th in average percentage of stadium filled at 54.5%

Practically the definition of a sleeping giant.

Back the boyz and make some noize!!!!11

[Pat Butchers Ring]

13k average would suggest weve had a few attendances over 13k. I can only think of one possibly two (Bristol City).

Feels like weve gone back 20 years to pre Mad Stad days where a 13k crowd was decent

13,000 at Elm Park? I can remember the days when 10,000 was classed as exceptional, Hopefully the days of attendances of 5-6K are long gone.

OK possibly one vs Bolton

[Snowflake Royal]

13k average would suggest weve had a few attendances over 13k. I can only think of one possibly two (Bristol City).

Feels like weve gone back 20 years to pre Mad Stad days where a 13k crowd was decent

After a decade of atrocious home performances and during a pandemic it's hardly surprising we're down 2 or 3 thousand on average compared to what you might expect for mid-table Championship.

15 - 16 seems about right for us without the pandemic. 18-19 consistently knocking about the edge of the POs.

The pandemic is going to have made plenty of people realise they were only attending out of habit. The break meant others have found different things. And its prevented the incoming churn of new fans to replace the natural loss you get all the time.

On top of that there'll be a fair few people who just aren’t ready to return with infections still so widespread.

A couple of years of mid-table and play offs and we'll comfortably be back to 15 - 16 IMO.

[Hendo]

13k average would suggest weve had a few attendances over 13k. I can only think of one possibly two (Bristol City).

Feels like weve gone back 20 years to pre Mad Stad days where a 13k crowd was decent

After a decade of atrocious home performances and during a pandemic it's hardly surprising we're down 2 or 3 thousand on average compared to what you might expect for mid-table Championship.

15 - 16 seems about right for us without the pandemic. 18-19 consistently knocking about the edge of the POs.

The pandemic is going to have made plenty of people realise they were only attending out of habit. The break meant others have found different things. And its prevented the incoming churn of new fans to replace the natural loss you get all the time.

On top of that there'll be a fair few people who just aren’t ready to return with infections still so widespread.

A couple of years of mid-table and play offs and we'll comfortably be back to 15 - 16 IMO.

Agreed, especially if we continue to play decent football (defending notwithstanding). All the home games have been very entertaining, not been bored at one (apart from 1st half v Posh, but the game overall was a good one).

[Snowflake Royal]

Whilst I miss the atmosphere and experience, I don't miss the 6 hours travel. So I can't see myself returning much at all for quite some time, let alone regularly.