It is undisputed that the biggest weapon that Leeds United
Football Club has in its arsenal is its massive support. Through thick and
thin, the Leeds faithful have been the ever present in the merry-go-round of
players, managers and owners and, with this in mind, @LUFC_Calypso felt it was
time to highlight the superiority held by Leeds United and our outstanding fans
over the rest of the division. In addition, we took a look and our impressive attendance
statistics in comparison to some of the so called ‘big boys’ of the top flight
in an attempt to justify our belief as fans that we are the best supported club in the
UK.
The attendance statistics this season alone really highlight
the dominance that Leeds United has at Elland Rd over many of the other
Championship clubs and stadiums. Currently with the 2nd highest
average attendance for home fixtures only to Brighton and Hove Albion, we have
regularly experienced large crowds in the majority of matches so far this term.
With our average attendance at 25,057, United have for the most part been able
to resist the dramatically declining attendances that have been registered up
and down the country in recent seasons. With several fixtures being selected to
be televised, attendances would probably be even higher had this not been the
case. Our lowest attendance of the 2013/14 season to date was Chesterfield in
the Carling Cup, yet despite this fixture attracting no headlines, 17,466 still
turned up in force. Other than this incident, we have only dropped below the
23,000 benchmark just twice, Bournemouth on a Tuesday night (21,749) and
Birmingham on a Sunday lunchtime, televised kick off (21,301). This clearly
shows that the support is still strong, and despite ticket prices and drops in
form, the Leeds faithful still flood in.
Despite the impressive nature of home attendances, perhaps
more impressive is the attendance we seem to generate away from fortress Elland
Rd. Almost without fail this season, Leeds have regularly topped the list of
away attendances in the league, and many clubs have experienced their highest
attendances for their ‘Home to Leeds’ fixture this season. 3 of the 9 away
fixtures have seen the hosts clock their largest attendance of the season, (Bolton,
Huddersfield and Reading), and the travelling fans have played a large part in
this being the case. Furthermore, ticket sales for the Charlton game showed the
extent of the support. Selling out our initial 3,000 seat allocation in under
an hour, and the extended 200 extra seats in 2 minutes (literally), this is yet
more evidence that away allocations could be filled twice or three times over.
This is quite staggering.
The comparison against the top division clubs only further
covers the United fans in glory. Statistics show that our average attendance
would place us above 5 Premier League clubs (West Brom, Fulham, Hull, Crystal
Palace and Swansea), and within 5,000 of a further 4 (Norwich, Stoke, Cardiff
and Southampton). This is remarkable given Leeds’ status as a second tier club -
with a vast choice of other teams in the local area, it is a testament to the
history and ethos at the club that we pull in considerably more fans than any
other Yorkshire side. Should we get promoted, and with the stadium expansion
that has been promised for years, we truly believe that we could be in touching
distance of the top 5 most supported teams in the country.
Although we may not officially be the best supported club in
the country, we still stand by our claim that our fans remain amongst the elite
in this country. By outnumbering the majority of our rivals in our current
division, and a handful of our future rivals in the division above, it cannot
be questioned that the support that urges the team to get the results is highly
impressive. With this in mind, we encourage you to keep the faith, as our
committed fan base is what separates us from our rivals. As always, we welcome
your opinions and comments, please tweet us at @LUFC_Calypso!
NOTE: A massive thanks to @LUFCDATA for providing us with
some statistics yet again, if you don’t follow him we highly recommend you do.
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