"Fans staying away" - lets put this myth to bed

I am fed up of people banging on about these mystical fans "staying away".

We have always had 12k-15k when not pushing from promotion from this league. The years we were not in contention for promotion from this league are below with their respective average attendance for that particular season.


2007 - 13th place championship - 15.223
2006 - 11th place championship - 11.720
2005 - 16th place championship - 12.976
2004 - 13th place championship - 15.569

So who exactly is staying away? The people who wanted Premiership football? Of course they are, we are nowhere near it. People are talking as if we have always had massive crowds and these "stay away" fans have always been there. The fact is, there isnt any stay away fans, this is our normal attendance, any increase will be down to band-wagoners jumping on any success we have.

Here is one for you....

Since I started supporting in the mid 1970's (46 years ago) - INCLUDING our Premier league year and all the ridiculous overstated attendances of the seasons leading up to it, our average attendance has been:-

10,668 over the last 46 years.

That's Ninian Park attendances, totally different ball game.

Now show from 2007 until 2016 including last seasons thousands upon thousands of free tickets

That's Ninian Park attendances, totally different ball game.

Now show from 2007 until 2016 including last seasons thousands upon thousands of free tickets

Ninian Park held well over 20,000, it was half empty most of the time. Its irrelevant.

From 2008 onwards we were in the play-off race for our first ever Premier League season, people were falling over themselves to get a piece of it. Well they have had it now and it wasnt all that great. Its over. We are back to normal attendances for where we are now as history has shown us for decades upon decades. Why people think that has all suddenly changed and we have gained tens of thousands of diehards who are staying away due to principle is beyond me.

People are kidding themselves. We are where we are. This is it.

My first game in 76 there were 17,000, at that time Ninian held 46,000 - no-one complained a jot.

My first game in 76 there were 17,000, at that time Ninian held 46,000 - no-one complained a jot.

Yup. Its an absolute myth mate, designed to perpetuate the fantasy that we are some big club. We are not, never have been. Once we get real with this we can move on, stop comp,aining and actually back the side.

Last edited by EalingBluebird on Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That's Ninian Park attendances, totally different ball game.

Now show from 2007 until 2016 including last seasons thousands upon thousands of free tickets

Ninian Park held well over 20,000, it was half empty most of the time. Its irrelevant.

From 2008 onwards we were in the play-off race for our first ever Premier League season, people were falling over themselves to get a piece of it. Well they have had it now and it wasnt all that great. Its over. We are back to normal attendances for where we are now as history has shown us for decades upon decades. Why people think that has all suddenly changed and we have gained tens of thousands of diehards who are staying away due to principle is beyond me.

People are kidding themselves. We are where we are. This is it.

I agree with you. We are getting our normal attendances for this league, unless we are seriously pushing for promotion. I don't think we have lost many fans, more a case of we gained a lot of followers during the good years. Most of these were never going to be around once the good times went, and now we are back to the normal amount of hardcore fans when taking out current position into account. If we were to get anywhere near the top 6, we could expect 6,000 or so more to return, but they won't hang around if we started to lose again.

Here's a stat for you Ealing.cardiff city's last successful season in the top flight was season 1953/4.average 38000.

You guys should get your facts right
To say we have never been a big club is bollocks
Up until the late fifties we used to get attendances of of around 40000-50000 every week
Also in the fifties we were also one of the richest
I imagine you have all heard of John Charles
One of the greatest players in the world
Cardiff city made a world record bid of £75,000 for him which was turned down by Leeds United
2 months later he went to Juventus for £65,000
That was still a world record
We signed Trevor Ford for £30.000
When we had the floodlights at Ninian Park they cost £70,000
They paid cash no hp in those days
The roof on the bob bank £60,000 cash
So to say we have never been a big club is crap

Your right mate not a big club.a big big failure our history is dreadful.im suprised we get the support we do .last trophy 1927.last successful season in the top flight 1953/4!!!

We have never been a big club and especially not now. We do seem to have this superiority complex where some of our fans have said we are a bigger clubs than the likes of Watford and Palace and fat Gwyn once said we were bigger than Everton

You guys should get your facts right
To say we have never been a big club is bollocks
Up until the late fifties we used to get attendances of of around 40000-50000 every week
Also in the fifties we were also one of the richest
I imagine you have all heard of John Charles
One of the greatest players in the world
Cardiff city made a world record bid of £75,000 for him which was turned down by Leeds United
2 months later he went to Juventus for £65,000
That was still a world record
We signed Trevor Ford for £30.000
When we had the floodlights at Ninian Park they cost £70,000
They paid cash no hp in those days
The roof on the bob bank £60,000 cash
So to say we have never been a big club is crap

40-50,000 every week up untill the late 50's?

Where have you got that whopper from?

You guys should get your facts right
To say we have never been a big club is bollocks
Up until the late fifties we used to get attendances of of around 40000-50000 every week
Also in the fifties we were also one of the richest
I imagine you have all heard of John Charles
One of the greatest players in the world
Cardiff city made a world record bid of £75,000 for him which was turned down by Leeds United
2 months later he went to Juventus for £65,000
That was still a world record
We signed Trevor Ford for £30.000
When we had the floodlights at Ninian Park they cost £70,000
They paid cash no hp in those days
The roof on the bob bank £60,000 cash
So to say we have never been a big club is crap

John Charles was still playing when I first started following this club. You are talking about an era that ended almost half a century ago. I think most fans on this forum are talking about events from their own lifetime. The days of Cardiff being one of the big clubs are long gone. There was a time when you would'nt have said Liverpool were as big as us, and obviously if you go back long enough to before the war, we were even bigger again. Since the late 60's/early 70's these have been our normal gates apart from the seasons we were in with a good chance of promotion. Even when we were top with Toshack scoring for fun, we were getting anywhere between 18 & 25000.

You guys should get your facts right
To say we have never been a big club is bollocks
Up until the late fifties we used to get attendances of of around 40000-50000 every week
Also in the fifties we were also one of the richest
I imagine you have all heard of John Charles
One of the greatest players in the world
Cardiff city made a world record bid of £75,000 for him which was turned down by Leeds United
2 months later he went to Juventus for £65,000
That was still a world record
We signed Trevor Ford for £30.000
When we had the floodlights at Ninian Park they cost £70,000
They paid cash no hp in those days
The roof on the bob bank £60,000 cash
So to say we have never been a big club is crap

If we went back a further 30-40 years, the Titanic was a marvel of modern engineering.

If you want to go back the best part of 60-70 years to a time where the world of football was so unrecognisable to what it is today, to a point where comparison and relativity is pointless, then be my guest.

But as far back as most of us can remember and a period that is at least somewhat relative to the game we have today, we have not been a big club. In fact, a relatively small one. As I said, our average attendance over the last 45 years has been 10,000.

To suggest we are so used to big attendances to the extent that at 14,000 attendance we can say "where are the missing fans" is quite frankly, just posturing rubbish. This is the figure we have pretty much always seen in this position.

Here's the figures. Attendances were indeed pretty large in the 50s. However 50k is a slight exaggeration. Also, every club in the country had huge attendances back then! Even with our highest we're still ranked around 20th. Take a look. Quite interesting.

http://www.european-football-statistics ... b/carc.htm

1959 17.776
1958 15.366
1957 20.550
1956 26.624
1955 24.311
1954 32.410
1953 37.933
1952 28.945
1951 28.412
1950 28.680

Hear hear.

Well said Sir, the voice of reason amongst a sea of voices whose sole aim is undermining the club.

We are very much a mid sized club, not a big club by any means. Big clubs in our league are, Sheff Wed, Leeds, Wolves, Derby, Newcastle, Villa and Forest

We don't have the marketing capacity to be a big club, maybe due to our geographical location, being a Welsh club some British fans may think lesser of us as appose to a team like Man Utd which has alway had a massive global following, particularly in Wales- then there's owners and the marketing of clubs in there countries - QPR and ourselves have done woefully tapping into our owners countries but Leicester have really boomed in Thailand.

I think unfortunately we will always be up against it but we are still the biggest club in Wales

That's Ninian Park attendances, totally different ball game.

Now show from 2007 until 2016 including last seasons thousands upon thousands of free tickets

I agree, masking the figures as new grounds bring bigger crowds fact.

We have never been a big club and especially not now. We do seem to have this superiority complex where some of our fans have said we are a bigger clubs than the likes of Watford and Palace and fat Gwyn once said we were bigger than Everton

Tend to agree but we have had no success, with sustained premiership football we would dwarf a lot of clubs. Apples and oranges.

You guys should get your facts right
To say we have never been a big club is bollocks
Up until the late fifties we used to get attendances of of around 40000-50000 every week
Also in the fifties we were also one of the richest
I imagine you have all heard of John Charles
One of the greatest players in the world
Cardiff city made a world record bid of £75,000 for him which was turned down by Leeds United
2 months later he went to Juventus for £65,000
That was still a world record
We signed Trevor Ford for £30.000
When we had the floodlights at Ninian Park they cost £70,000
They paid cash no hp in those days
The roof on the bob bank £60,000 cash
So to say we have never been a big club is crap

If we went back a further 30-40 years, the Titanic was a marvel of modern engineering.

If you want to go back the best part of 60-70 years to a time where the world of football was so unrecognisable to what it is today, to a point where comparison and relativity is pointless, then be my guest.

But as far back as most of us can remember and a period that is at least somewhat relative to the game we have today, we have not been a big club. In fact, a relatively small one. As I said, our average attendance over the last 45 years has been 10,000.

To suggest we are so used to big attendances to the extent that at 14,000 attendance we can say "where are the missing fans" is quite frankly, just posturing rubbish. This is the figure we have pretty much always seen in this position.

Our biggest concern I now is we are rooted r the bottom of the table with a coach trying to manage a football team. City have also had a huge floater fan base so we can look huge one season or during a period then as you see now a lot less but that's never been any different.

The reason us fans think we're a bigger club than we're is due to the fact we're the capital of Wales and one of the biggest cities in the UK.

We have never been a big club and especially not now. We do seem to have this superiority complex where some of our fans have said we are a bigger clubs than the likes of Watford and Palace and fat Gwyn once said we were bigger than Everton

Tend to agree but we have had no success, with sustained premiership football we would dwarf a lot of clubs. Apples and oranges.

Eh?!

That's ridiculous - Sunderland have been in the prem for years now and they're not seen as a big club, or are we looking further up? Everton maybe?? No they aren't a big club....could be....but in today's climate currently not.

We are what we are our fan base is pretty much the City and the Rhondda Valleys with a few scattering a here and there- but apart from that we can not and will not unless there's a heavy billion pound overhaul of our club to put us on the map

We have never been a big club and especially not now. We do seem to have this superiority complex where some of our fans have said we are a bigger clubs than the likes of Watford and Palace and fat Gwyn once said we were bigger than Everton

Tend to agree but we have had no success, with sustained premiership football we would dwarf a lot of clubs. Apples and oranges.

Eh?!

That's ridiculous - Sunderland have been in the prem for years now and they're not seen as a big club, or are we looking further up? Everton maybe?? No they aren't a big club....could be....but in today's climate currently not.

We are what we are our fan base is pretty much the City and the Rhondda Valleys with a few scattering a here and there- but apart from that we can not and will not unless there's a heavy billion pound overhaul of our club to put us on the map

We have never been a big club and especially not now. We do seem to have this superiority complex where some of our fans have said we are a bigger clubs than the likes of Watford and Palace and fat Gwyn once said we were bigger than Everton

Tend to agree but we have had no success, with sustained premiership football we would dwarf a lot of clubs. Apples and oranges.

Eh?!

That's ridiculous - Sunderland have been in the prem for years now and they're not seen as a big club, or are we looking further up? Everton maybe?? No they aren't a big club....could be....but in today's climate currently not.

We are what we are our fan base is pretty much the City and the Rhondda Valleys with a few scattering a here and there- but apart from that we can not and will not unless there's a heavy billion pound overhaul of our club to put us on the map

To be fair Sunderland are far bigger than us, with a history that shows a lot of success. Regularly average 40000 plus, not sure how many times they have won the league but I think it's around 7 or 8 times with a couple of FA cup wins and runners up thrown in. Even when they have been playing in the second tier they have been averaging around 30,000, sometimes more.

Your right mate not a big club.a big big failure our history is dreadful.im suprised we get the support we do .last trophy 1927.last successful season in the top flight 1953/4!!!

We have won the Welsh cup on numerous occasions since 1927 ,giving us fantastic times in the European cup winners cup
Including a brilliant win against Real Madrid
So your above statement is totally wrong

That's Ninian Park attendances, totally different ball game.

Now show from 2007 until 2016 including last seasons thousands upon thousands of free tickets

Ninian Park held well over 20,000, it was half empty most of the time. Its irrelevant.

From 2008 onwards we were in the play-off race for our first ever Premier League season, people were falling over themselves to get a piece of it. Well they have had it now and it wasnt all that great. Its over. We are back to normal attendances for where we are now as history has shown us for decades upon decades. Why people think that has all suddenly changed and we have gained tens of thousands of diehards who are staying away due to principle is beyond me.

People are kidding themselves. We are where we are. This is it.

Ninian Park.

Hardly any away fans came,plus the New/modern football fan never really started watching City till we moved in to the Cardiff City Stadium and I know that for a fact, I saw all the dateabase and we grew from 30,000 fans names and addresses to 260,000 when we moved.

Don't get me wrong I personally preferred Ninian Park,but I'm just giving you All the Facts,so they do make a difference :thumb right:


Correct/Spot on we gained the new fans from 2008 and we held them for a few years and then during Tans era we lost them.

You guys should get your facts right
To say we have never been a big club is bollocks
Up until the late fifties we used to get attendances of of around 40000-50000 every week
Also in the fifties we were also one of the richest
I imagine you have all heard of John Charles
One of the greatest players in the world
Cardiff city made a world record bid of £75,000 for him which was turned down by Leeds United
2 months later he went to Juventus for £65,000
That was still a world record
We signed Trevor Ford for £30.000
When we had the floodlights at Ninian Park they cost £70,000
They paid cash no hp in those days
The roof on the bob bank £60,000 cash
So to say we have never been a big club is crap

Spot on Ronnie

That's Ninian Park attendances, totally different ball game.

Now show from 2007 until 2016 including last seasons thousands upon thousands of free tickets

Ninian Park held well over 20,000, it was half empty most of the time. Its irrelevant.

From 2008 onwards we were in the play-off race for our first ever Premier League season, people were falling over themselves to get a piece of it. Well they have had it now and it wasnt all that great. Its over. We are back to normal attendances for where we are now as history has shown us for decades upon decades. Why people think that has all suddenly changed and we have gained tens of thousands of diehards who are staying away due to principle is beyond me.

People are kidding themselves. We are where we are. This is it.

Ninian Park.

Hardly any away fans came,plus the New/modern football fan never really started watching City till we moved in to the Cardiff City Stadium and I know that for a fact, I saw all the dateabase and we grew from 30,000 fans names and addresses to 260,000 when we moved.

Don't get me wrong I personally preferred Ninian Park,but I'm just giving you All the Facts,so they do make a difference :thumb right:


Correct/Spot on we gained the new fans from 2008 and we held them for a few years and then during Tans era we lost them.

The database grow mainly due to the fa cup final

That's Ninian Park attendances, totally different ball game.

Now show from 2007 until 2016 including last seasons thousands upon thousands of free tickets

Ninian Park held well over 20,000, it was half empty most of the time. Its irrelevant.

From 2008 onwards we were in the play-off race for our first ever Premier League season, people were falling over themselves to get a piece of it. Well they have had it now and it wasnt all that great. Its over. We are back to normal attendances for where we are now as history has shown us for decades upon decades. Why people think that has all suddenly changed and we have gained tens of thousands of diehards who are staying away due to principle is beyond me.

People are kidding themselves. We are where we are. This is it.

Ninian Park.

Hardly any away fans came,plus the New/modern football fan never really started watching City till we moved in to the Cardiff City Stadium and I know that for a fact, I saw all the dateabase and we grew from 30,000 fans names and addresses to 260,000 when we moved.

Don't get me wrong I personally preferred Ninian Park,but I'm just giving you All the Facts,so they do make a difference :thumb right:


Correct/Spot on we gained the new fans from 2008 and we held them for a few years and then during Tans era we lost them.

The database grow mainly due to the fa cup final

Wez, due to a few Wembley appearances and we then eventually went up and up in season ticket sales every season