Is there any way to get at the actual attendance numbers for matches, as opposed to the artificial "tickets sold" versions? Or is this a thing of the past? And when did it change to this ridiculous method? (I'm assuming the numbers were proper numbers back in the day).
I’d very much doubt the numbers have ever been correct, obviously at lot easier when it was standing terraces, plenty of doubling up at the turnstiles, crawling under them whilst one paid or getting in through the back door of the social club etc
I remember when it seemed they understated crowd figures, we all used to say it was for tax purposes. a 10000-looking crowd was announced as 8000. With this current regime they need to overstate it, the recent tv game v Brentford, there was NO WAY there were over 12000. Once we are relegation certainties and nobody turns up, that's when it will get interesting.
Relegation certainties..So you mean now then effectively? It’s somewhat inconceivable that we will possibly claw our way to safety already tbh. Effectively 9 points from 4th bottom and just one win all season. We’d need to double our points tally so far just to match 4th bottom and the immediate teams above us would all have to lose each week until we caught up. We’re well and truly f.ucked already sadly. Apologies for latching onto that last paragraph but this team is already done this season. By January I’d be amazed if we aren’t twice as far adrift.
The club only announce tickets sold. The club do know how many actually attended though - as everything is scanned. That is commercially sensitive data for every club, and likely won’t ever be released - for which is absolutely the right thing to do, otherwise it could affect commercial revenue.
Seriously considering not going tomorrow, it's going to be cold and some friends of ours are going out for drinks and a meal in the afternoon, sounds a lot more tempting.
The Club have the actual figures. They have to as a matter of law. For the rather obvious reason of fan safety. They can publish the actual figure or the overstated one. The latter includes all tickets sold, whether used or not. Including season tickets and complementaries. BFC chose to publish the latter because overstating the number of people in the crowd is, they believe, more attractive to sponsors. This approach can backfire (Arsenal, Man Utd, West Ham etc....) and is now causing the Premier League, in particular, some problems because the differences between actual and published figures are so great it is causing a lot of mirth among many. Some clubs have been asked or have decided not to announce the figure at the game because of the general hilarity it causes among fans. Note the laughter on Wednesday when Middlesbrough announced a crowd of over 18,000 when the actual was less than 12,000.
I hadn't considered the sponsorship angle. I just assumed it was being done this way because it was easier. Now it sounds like a blatant lie. I take the point that figures may never have been accurate, but it feels like clubs are deliberately misleading potential sponsors. Makes me wonder what new sponsors are being told when they are signing up. Surely they must be told the truth, otherwise it's fraud, isn't it?
