Apparently there was 'huge numbers' of empty seats...

M18CTID said:
Some cracking info over the past few pages, and as Gary says you have to look at the context of the 80's - crowds were much lower all over then. I remember a United fan on Rag Cafe taking great delight in our sub-20,000 average for 1987-88 but as has been pointed out, we were still the 12th best supported team in England that season despite finishing mid-table in Division 2 and below 30-odd clubs in the league pyramid.

As for Chelsea, yes they did have some bizarrely low crowds in the 80's and early 90's. I say bizarrely because to be fair, their away followings during that period were almost unreal. I remember reading that they had 3 sides of the ground for a league match at Ninian Park against Cardiff in 1983-84 and their numbers at Maine Road at the back end of that season are well documented. Granted they were going for promotion in those games and interest would've been high so let's pick a random low-key game. In October 1993 we played them in an early round league cup match at Maine Road. We won 1-0 (Vonk) and from memory the crowd was around 16,000. I'd estimate that Chelsea brought over 4000 that night - and they were loud as fuck - which was hugely impressive for a midweek match in the league cup. Incidentally, we played them about a month later in the league at theirs on a Monday night and there were barely 10,000 there! I'd say there were no more than 500 City fans there that night freezing our bollocks off on that open away end - probably the lowest away following I've ever been part of.
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Great post mate, that Cardiff game is on youtube & you can see Chelsea fans everywhere in the ground, shame i was just that bit to young to go, that league game at Chelsea you mentioned with the 10,000 gate, days before i suggested to my mates to go in the City terrace because that was our last game before the north terrace was demolished & we'd never watched a game from there, in the end i couldnt go because my baby son at the time had serious health issues & was rushed to hospital, my two mates went & did go in your end & stood chatting to a couple of City fans who were apparently quite impressed they'd chose to go in with your fans, i cant comment on how many City were there because obviously i wasnt there, maybe it was due to the early days of Sky & monday night games, nothing to play for game in Dec live on the box hence the low gate, but thats not really an excuse why 1,000s of Chelsea fans didnt bother with a home game.

One of the worst gates for me & it still baffles me today is when we got 9,000 v Coventry in 94, we'd only weeks before taken 34,000 to Wembley for the fa cup semi v Luton, yet then we only get 9,000 for a home game, its bizarre even Bates said how can he ask the FA for more cup final tickets(we got 18,000) v Utd, when we only got 9,000 at home, unless of course he'd fiddled the gate like he used to, even so if that was the case i'd say we wouldnt have got any more than 15,000 at a guess.
 
M18CTID said:
Some cracking info over the past few pages, and as Gary says you have to look at the context of the 80's - crowds were much lower all over then. I remember a United fan on Rag Cafe taking great delight in our sub-20,000 average for 1987-88 but as has been pointed out, we were still the 12th best supported team in England that season despite finishing mid-table in Division 2 and below 30-odd clubs in the league pyramid.

As for Chelsea, yes they did have some bizarrely low crowds in the 80's and early 90's. I say bizarrely because to be fair, their away followings during that period were almost unreal. I remember reading that they had 3 sides of the ground for a league match at Ninian Park against Cardiff in 1983-84 and their numbers at Maine Road at the back end of that season are well documented. Granted they were going for promotion in those games and interest would've been high so let's pick a random low-key game. In October 1993 we played them in an early round league cup match at Maine Road. We won 1-0 (Vonk) and from memory the crowd was around 16,000. I'd estimate that Chelsea brought over 4000 that night - and they were loud as fuck - which was hugely impressive for a midweek match in the league cup. Incidentally, we played them about a month later in the league at theirs on a Monday night and there were barely 10,000 there! I'd say there were no more than 500 City fans there that night freezing our bollocks off on that open away end - probably the lowest away following I've ever been part of.
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Same. Def the lowest City away following I've been in. We were sat in a pub outside the ground and watched kick off on TV and it was so cold outside we didn't really want to leave the boozer. Think it was £9 to get in and I was scandalised by that!
 
Apparently Merson was slating our support due to empties against Leicester today on Sky. I don't recall him saying it though? It's a quote attached to an image.
 
Chelsea Lad said:
Great post mate, that Cardiff game is on youtube & you can see Chelsea fans everywhere in the ground, shame i was just that bit to young to go, that league game at Chelsea you mentioned with the 10,000 gate, days before i suggested to my mates to go in the City terrace because that was our last game before the north terrace was demolished & we'd never watched a game from there, in the end i couldnt go because my baby son at the time had serious health issues & was rushed to hospital, my two mates went & did go in your end & stood chatting to a couple of City fans who were apparently quite impressed they'd chose to go in with your fans, i cant comment on how many City were there because obviously i wasnt there, maybe it was due to the early days of Sky & monday night games, nothing to play for game in Dec live on the box hence the low gate, but thats not really an excuse why 1,000s of Chelsea fans didnt bother with a home game.

One of the worst gates for me & it still baffles me today is when we got 9,000 v Coventry in 94, we'd only weeks before taken 34,000 to Wembley for the fa cup semi v Luton, yet then we only get 9,000 for a home game, its bizarre even Bates said how can he ask the FA for more cup final tickets(we got 18,000) v Utd, when we only got 9,000 at home, unless of course he'd fiddled the gate like he used to, even so if that was the case i'd say we wouldnt have got any more than 15,000 at a guess.
Click to expand...

I was just thinking as I wrote that last night that it was the last time away fans were stood on that terrace. I've got the match programme somewhere and remember reading a feature about it on the coach home. If I'm not mistaken, work on demolishing the terrace was to begin the very next morning.
 
fallowfield said:
Same. Def the lowest City away following I've been in. We were sat in a pub outside the ground and watched kick off on TV and it was so cold outside we didn't really want to leave the boozer. Think it was £9 to get in and I was scandalised by that!
Click to expand...

Ha ha! I remember being in a pub near the ground beforehand and it was pretty quiet save for a few of us City fans and not many more Chelsea. I can't recall a single chant going up from the away terrace that night. There were about 20 or 30 of our fans in the seats high up in the 3rd tier to our left though and they made more noise - mainly "Swales Out" chants!
 
It's from the Daily Fail, so it could be.......

I won't post a link. Feel free.

But the Scouser's are one set of fans who have jumped on the Emptyhad jibe, so if it's true, pot-kettle-black!

*Liverpool risk upsetting their fans again with an initiative that could see ticket holders' seats given away if they arrive late to matches at Anfield from next season.

It is understood the club are looking at ways to fill an average of 1,000 seats that remain empty during home games - many of them held by season-ticket holders who do not attend.

Club officials are looking to determine the feasibility of inviting a number of pre-registered fans to turn up on match days and be escorted into the ground after a certain amount of time to use empty seats free of charge.*
 
What's up with the online ticket section? The image shows blocks with (low) tickets available but when you click on them to actually buy one there are non available? Been like this for days
 
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