Norwich Home Game 1965-66

[Scaring Europe to Death]

One for our older supporters.

Many biographies and accounts of the period, refer to the United dinner in 65, when Malcolm Allison announced himself rather spectacularly on the Manchester footballing stage.

They also mention the wager with Pat Crerand, concerning the next 30,000 crowd at Maine Road, with Big Mal collecting his winnings after the game against Norwich the following October.

However, the attendance in itself seems slightly incongruous.

The previous home game had resulted in a 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace, witnessed by 24,765.
We then drew 0-0 with Norwich in front of 34,091, but the following Saturday, only 23,102 attended another goalless draw, this time against Charlton.
I imagine the away followings to be fairly similar for all three games, so why did a midweek fixture against Norwich suddenly attract an extra 10,000?

I know we’d just beaten Preston 3-0 at Deepdale, so was it just a case of media hyperbole getting ahead of itself before the larger crowds appeared later in the season?
Ironically, United endured a smaller attendance the previous Saturday. Was this mentioned at the time?

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Empty terraces back then by all accounts ;)

 

[lancs blue]

This was a rearranged game after the original match had been abandoned at HT in September due to a waterlogged pitch. Can't remember off the top of my head but perhaps City charged reduced prices with the first game being abandoned and attracted a larger crowd than usual? The drop in attendance for the game 3 days later is not unusual for those days, it was a cash economy for most people and if you didn't have the cash you didn't get to the match, unless you fancied jibbing it.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Observing closely the attendances down the years there are some incredibly steep rises and falls, for no apparent reason,from game to game..lancs blue prob has hit the nail right on the head regarding the "cash economy" ..and has helped me understand this weird feature of football back in the day.
thanks LB!