Don’t forget a lot of empty seats would be season ticket holders who weren’t there for whatever reason but thru some bent accounting system are counted as attending
There's always a number missing around me at this time of year cos there not in the country and not for some other ulterior motive
I was agreeing with the ‘bent accounting system’ rather than suggesting an ulterior motive. The way crowds are measured in England these days has now drifted into the absurd - particularly in the ‘greatest league in the world’. And all in the name of marketing. Pathetic.
It is tickets sold. I don’t think that’s the best way of measuring the number of people who attend football matches. Do you?
Think Gordon's figure Is far nearer the truth than yours. 13/14000 is way less than 2/3 rds full . Capacity 23200+ so by your reckoning 9500 below capacity. 2300 north west. 2500 north. Means around 5000 missing in South. South west and east. Didn't look like that to me.
You may well be right. Kinda misses my point though. Let me be a little more explicit. The attendance figures quoted at Oakwell are a joke. Not quite on the Arsenal/West Ham/Man City level but a joke all the same. Having watched football for over 45 years it’s just a little disappointing to see this farce perpetuated in the name of ‘marketing ‘ the game. I suppose the real reason it gets on my tits is I think it devalues the attendances of the past when they are falsely compared with today’s gross exaggerations. What’s particularly ironic is those who watched Barnsley in days gone by used to laugh out loud because it often seemed the attendance figures were understated (rumoured tax fiddle). Now all the chortling is because the announced figure is so obviously so much higher than the actual number in the ground. It’s not a big deal just another one of those ridiculous examples which shows football to be eating itself because of its self importance.
Every club does it counts every season ticket holder as there. I was in the box office before kick off they didnt seem to be any seats together in east stand or ponty as everyone was buying for west stand. The empty seats were season ticket holders not in attendance. The gate figure is more of a ticket sold figure instead of actual attendance but every team in england does it.
3 of us missing yesterday from East Upper as down at in laws in Cornwall for Xmas. Reckon boxing day game has most ST holders missing of any game in the season for logistical reasons
It's a bigger joke that we only open around 3/4 of the away stand with rubbish reasons given for the reduced capacity and a small fortune thrown away. Sheffield Wednesday get seemingly unlimited media coverage for their issues with the away end but as far as I'm aware it's never been mentioned that our restrictions are even more severe.
They can't re-sell the empty seats held by season ticket holders. People have a ticket to attend the game - if they sell every seat it's a sell out, the club have no control over who turns up.
They can't but it's also wrong and deliberately misleading to announce a false attendance although I accept we aren't alone in this dodgy practice.
But even if we can ignore the fact that we all sleep better knowing the current owners don't own the ground... Even if we could possibly fill the extra seats half a dozen times a year, how long would it take to pay off a loan to rebuild it?
We’re not alone but it’s not true to say every team in a England follows the practice. Some quote the Police figure, which is the actual number attending. The police have to have this figure for obvious reasons. I think it’s more honest.
We're not just 'not alone'; its the official way to measure attendance. But... like all statistics, it has to be taken in context. The reason people believe that statistics are no better than 'lies'; is that they can't be bothered to understand the context. So in the real world our 17049 doesn't equate to the number of warm bodies in the ground - but it does compare like for like with the Rotherham attendance (7883) and the Man Utd one too (73206). Statisticians are pedantic - if you ask them for a number, they'll insist on giving you a specific description of what the number means and all the caveats that apply. Journalists and Politicians OTOH will take a number and pretend it means something else entirely.
All ST holders are included in the attendance figure whether there or not. Given no trains or busses were running yesterday and some fans were probably on holiday / had family commitments then the figure announced at the game would have been incorrect. Was disappointed in the following from West Brom to say they are top of the league. The issues with the west stand need sorting urgentlyand it's a disgrace that away end is now limited to 4400 odd. A stand built what 18 years ago has a restricted capacity due to a failure to meet evacuation timescales.
