If we climb the table will the floating fans return?

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As we near the turn of 2016 into 2017 and we bring the curtain down on the first half of the 2016/17 Championship campaign, here are the sides that boast the best to worst 'fill percentages' for the opening half of the campaign.

Obviously everyone will take a slightly different view of this, Stadium's have wildly differing capacities from Newcastle United's 52,405 down to Burton Albion's 6,350 so the mean average capacity of 26,360 is pretty irrelevant to be honest.

And of course each club has their own fanbase split between season ticket holders and match day goers - so direct comparisons can't be drawn between sides - but for fans of the club in isolation it can be a guide to how supporters are reacting to the season the team is having so far this year.

The Express have done the legwork on the numbers so errors are theirs, but with the second half of the season still to play out and the Championship already proving to be its usual competitive self and even table highflyers at the moment, Newcastle United and Brighton, have had their own blips with results, so come the end of the season when final positions are nailed down hopefully I can run this again and we can see how the more floating fan changed depending on whether results picked up or dropped off.

Read more: http://www.wigan.vitalfootball.co.uk/ar ... z4TJZdu5f0

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Where we would sit now if we started the season with Warnock and were much higher up the league table???

Lyn, they've got our capacity wrong, its 33,500

Lyn, they've got our capacity wrong, its 33,500

Thats 44.77%!

Lyn, they've got our capacity wrong, its 33,500

Thats 44.77%!

Which takes us to 22nd,like our away support

In answer to your question, City fans will take years to return,unless of course we go back to Premier League and its filled with a lot of Glory hunters.

What I mean is,even if we go on good runs we can't get over 22,000, unless its Free admission/Cheap tickets or the away team brings thousands,sadly all that is facts.

I still think and hear from many, we are still a broken club. I honestly thought thousands would flood back with Neil Warnock joining us and his first four signings.

I rounded it off to the nearest thousand its actually 44.48% but same difference. Well im sure things will improve with the right Manager in place!

I rounded it off to the nearest thousand its actually 44.48% but same difference. Well im sure things will improve with the right Manager in place!

Lyn, For me Neil Warnock is the right manager

In answer to your question, City fans will take years to return,unless of course we go back to Premier League and its filled with a lot of Glory hunters.

What I mean is,even if we go on good runs we can't get over 22,000, unless its Free admission/Cheap tickets or the away team brings thousands,sadly all that is facts.

I still think and hear from many, we are still a broken club. I honestly thought thousands would flood back with Neil Warnock joining us and his first four signings.

Thing is people have moved on from the club and as you say it'll be yrs before we are getting good crowds for championship football,the worst thing is we was getting decent crowds before tan come along and whatever he does some will never return unless it's premiership football.the pride of the fan base has been wrecked and it'll take time to rebuild that,a generation I'd say

In answer to your question, City fans will take years to return,unless of course we go back to Premier League and its filled with a lot of Glory hunters.

What I mean is,even if we go on good runs we can't get over 22,000, unless its Free admission/Cheap tickets or the away team brings thousands,sadly all that is facts.

I still think and hear from many, we are still a broken club. I honestly thought thousands would flood back with Neil Warnock joining us and his first four signings.

Thing is people have moved on from the club and as you say it'll be yrs before we are getting good crowds for championship football,the worst thing is we was getting decent crowds before tan come along and whatever he does some will never return unless it's premiership football.the pride of the fan base has been wrecked and it'll take time to rebuild that,a generation I'd say

Thats how I see it.

Compared to most of the 1970s all of the 1980s and all of the 1990s city's crowds are at record high level.

In answer to your question, City fans will take years to return,unless of course we go back to Premier League and its filled with a lot of Glory hunters.

What I mean is,even if we go on good runs we can't get over 22,000, unless its Free admission/Cheap tickets or the away team brings thousands,sadly all that is facts.

I still think and hear from many, we are still a broken club. I honestly thought thousands would flood back with Neil Warnock joining us and his first four signings.

Thing is people have moved on from the club and as you say it'll be yrs before we are getting good crowds for championship football,the worst thing is we was getting decent crowds before tan come along and whatever he does some will never return unless it's premiership football.the pride of the fan base has been wrecked and it'll take time to rebuild that,a generation I'd say

It's true that ATM we don't look like we will turn any corners soon so it may well take a while for the floating fan base to get interested again.

However, I hope we stick with NW and give him 2/3 seasons to lay foundations and do some wheeling and dealing. Fans are not known for giving time but I honestly believe our problems are with the players and not the management.

Sorry I made a right pigs ear of that! Based on 33,500 actual capacity and the table above were on 46.08%, that still leaves us in 22nd place though.

Sorry I made a right pigs ear of that! Based on 33,500 actual capacity and the table above were on 46.08%, that still leaves us in 22nd place though.

I think we get the point.

Fans won't return until we are top 6 / playoffs etc. And will still keep giving bull shit excuses as to why they are not going.

I'll only return when Tan 's gone

What you talking about?.can you recall anytime in the clubs history when they were near the bottom of this division and they would have got 14000? .i don't.

I wonder if folks who go to watch competitive swimming but stay away when things are not going well are known as 'Floating Fans Floating Fans?' Where's my coat?

See how many turn up for the villa game it will be packed

Sorry I made a right pigs ear of that! Based on 33,500 actual capacity and the table above were on 46.08%, that still leaves us in 22nd place though.

sorry never seen the point in these tables, yes its nice to have a full ground,but any attemdance league that has Villa averaging 30k plus BELOW Rotherham and Brentford is bonkers. would Villa prefer to be getting 100% in a ground that holds 15k?

I'll only return when Tan 's gone

They'll be waiting a long time then

Sorry I made a right pigs ear of that! Based on 33,500 actual capacity and the table above were on 46.08%, that still leaves us in 22nd place though.

sorry never seen the point in these tables, yes its nice to have a full ground,but any attemdance league that has Villa averaging 30k plus BELOW Rotherham and Brentford is bonkers. would Villa prefer to be getting 100% in a ground that holds 15k?

Thats a fair point especially when you consider that our ground has the 6th biggest capacity of the 24! It does put us at a distinct disadvantage on top of being lower down in the league than normal! Perhaps it would make more sense to ignore the capacity and just look at the numbers of fans that visit.

You can say that for an ambitious club capacity and how much room you have is important and will bring in potentialy alot more revenue if we can get promotion. It will also give a better environment for the players to play in when its packed out to help ensure continued success.

I'll only return when Tan 's gone

Its posts like this that just anger me. Your telling us you don't go because of Tan? Do you not believe your loyalty is more than petty hate to a guy who is slowly changing his ways?

I'd rather sit with 2k people who show loyalty that the ones who stay away for this reason.

Whilst for a lot of us watching the City is more of a religion, for the majority of people it is actually an entertainment. Even during Malky's time the entertainment in the Championship wasn't great and it took a while for crowds to really ramp up.

OGS, Slade and Trollope took us to new depths of boredom/ineptitude and even I was sat there last season considering, for the first time in 40 odd years, whether it was really worth my time/money. The start of this season virtually convinced me that my time was up and this would be my last season as a season ticket holder.

However, Warnock came in and suddenly the team were fired up, the crowd is starting to wake up and I'm enjoying this season as much as the DJ era, plus we don't have to worry about being wound up any time soon

My point is that those fans will come back if they are getting value for their buck. It's not really about winning or losing, although winning obviously helps !!, but about having a team that will give it a go despite their shortcomings.

People do tend to forget that the massive upsurge in season ticket holders 8/9 years ago was down to the new stadium, 5 year price freeze and, most importantly, the prospect of two trips to Wembley and tickets to go with that. But we also had a hugely entertaining team, with all it's failings, that got you off your seat for the majority of games.

We are going in the right direction. Warnock will sort out the football side and it appears there is some forward planning with Bellamy being brought back into the fold. I actually think that if the club does show some ambition in the transfer market in January we will start to see a return to 17/18,000 crowds and then next season will get very interesting if progress is maintained.

All my opinion and from talking to people, I may be too optimistic but we'll see.

Without a doubt floating fans will return. The stadium will fill up with success - just look at how the stadium filled up with Wales fans once we started doing well! It helps that Wales have got some quality world class players which people will want to watch. If we went on a winning run now of 10 games the stadium would be 23-25k attendance by the end of i! If we got into the top 6 this also would happen or top 2 even the stadium would prob be 28-33 k!

See how many turn up for the villa game it will be packed

Biggest home game of the season,massive club coming to us,The big holiday game of the year, every club gets the big crowd that say,it's once a year,over 3,500 Villa fans, Hopefully 30,000

Without a doubt floating fans will return. The stadium will fill up with success - just look at how the stadium filled up with Wales fans once we started doing well! It helps that Wales have got some quality world class players which people will want to watch. If we went on a winning run now of 10 games the stadium would be 23-25k attendance by the end of i! If we got into the top 6 this also would happen or top 2 even the stadium would prob be 28-33 k!

A good run of 10 games under a manager like NEIL WARNOCK def deserves home gates of 25,000

Whilst for a lot of us watching the City is more of a religion, for the majority of people it is actually an entertainment. Even during Malky's time the entertainment in the Championship wasn't great and it took a while for crowds to really ramp up.

OGS, Slade and Trollope took us to new depths of boredom/ineptitude and even I was sat there last season considering, for the first time in 40 odd years, whether it was really worth my time/money. The start of this season virtually convinced me that my time was up and this would be my last season as a season ticket holder.

However, Warnock came in and suddenly the team were fired up, the crowd is starting to wake up and I'm enjoying this season as much as the DJ era, plus we don't have to worry about being wound up any time soon

My point is that those fans will come back if they are getting value for their buck. It's not really about winning or losing, although winning obviously helps !!, but about having a team that will give it a go despite their shortcomings.

People do tend to forget that the massive upsurge in season ticket holders 8/9 years ago was down to the new stadium, 5 year price freeze and, most importantly, the prospect of two trips to Wembley and tickets to go with that. But we also had a hugely entertaining team, with all it's failings, that got you off your seat for the majority of games.

We are going in the right direction. Warnock will sort out the football side and it appears there is some forward planning with Bellamy being brought back into the fold. I actually think that if the club does show some ambition in the transfer market in January we will start to see a return to 17/18,000 crowds and then next season will get very interesting if progress is maintained.

All my opinion and from talking to people, I may be too optimistic but we'll see.

17,000-18,000 crowds should be easily done in Jan

Without a doubt floating fans will return. The stadium will fill up with success - just look at how the stadium filled up with Wales fans once we started doing well! It helps that Wales have got some quality world class players which people will want to watch. If we went on a winning run now of 10 games the stadium would be 23-25k attendance by the end of i! If we got into the top 6 this also would happen or top 2 even the stadium would prob be 28-33 k!

A good run of 10 games under a manager like NEIL WARNOCK def deserves home gates of 25,000

Sadly, I think those gates have gone until we are either close to promotion (and I mean actually in the play-offs or better) or have been promoted again

The fans that joined the club during the previous rise of Cardiff City FC have walked away as quickly as they came (to a myriad of excuses) and won't come back until it suits them. I believe, some will never return

I guess we can always rely on a few 'returners' from The New Vetch next season! LOL

Its double trouble for me

1- We lost a lot of our hooligan element or those who loved terrace culture. We are a sanitised modern club now in many ways. Ninian Park was one of the last bastions of that era, we were slow to move on, and it took a few years for those lads to realise that. Its still there but minor compared to our "heydays"

2- The soccer am generation or modern fan see it as entertainment. The football is not only the entertainment but the atmosphere, sense of belonging and not wanting to miss out. 28K wanting that goal against Pompey (Conway i remember) was such a feeling. Getting promoted was better than being there.£400 for a season is a lot of money when you watch premier league football for free on your tablet and that makes you a football fan, so socially accepted.

South Wales does not have a history of supporting losing teams in any sport. Everyone loves a winner, so we need to be setting up for a challenge next season when season ticket go on sale or we will be stopping where we are now.