Credit Crunch Hits Premier League Crowds
Published: 03/06/2009
Credit Crunch hits Premier League Crowds
Unsurprisingly Man United top the seasonal attendance charts for the 2008/09 Premier League season. Their average of 75,304 was some 15,000 higher than the next best supported team in Arsenal. United’s seasonal average however was down 387 from the previous season.
In fact 11 Premier League clubs showed drops in seasonal average attendance from the previous year, discounting the three newly promoted clubs. North-east rivals Sunderland and Newcastle showed biggest drops from last season, losing an average of 3174 and 2571 fans per home game respectively. Hardly surprising given the poor seasons they both had.
Even successful Everton lost fans, down 1307 on last season – a sign of these credit crunching times perhaps.
Somewhat surprising however is that relegated Middlesbrough’s crowds were up 1754 on last season. Not all doom and gloom in the North-east it would appear.
In total crowds were down 180, 656 on last season, and time will tell whether things get worse or not.
| Premier League 08/09 / Home Attendance | ||||||
| Club | Average | Total | Highest | Lowest | Previous Season Avg | Diff |
| Manchester United | 75,304 | 1,430,776 | 75,569 | 73,917 | 75,691 | -387 |
| Arsenal | 60,040 | 1,140,755 | 60,109 | 59,317 | 60,066 | -26 |
| Newcastle United | 48,750 | 926,244 | 52,114 | 44,567 | 51,321 | -2,571 |
| Liverpool | 43,611 | 828,610 | 44,424 | 41,169 | 43,513 | 98 |
| Manchester City | 42,900 | 815,105 | 47,331 | 36,635 | 42,126 | 774 |
| Chelsea | 41,588 | 790,172 | 43,417 | 40,280 | 41,397 | 191 |
| Sunderland | 40,170 | 763,238 | 47,936 | 35,222 | 43,344 | -3,174 |
| Aston Villa | 39,812 | 756,422 | 42,585 | 35,134 | 40,032 | -220 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 35,929 | 682,646 | 36,183 | 35,507 | 35,967 | -38 |
| Everton | 35,667 | 677,679 | 39,574 | 31,063 | 36,974 | -1,307 |
| West Ham United | 33,700 | 640,307 | 34,958 | 30,842 | 34,601 | -901 |
| Middlesbrough | 28,429 | 540,144 | 33,767 | 24,020 | 26,675 | 1,754 |
| Stoke City | 26,960 | 512,242 | 27,500 | 25,287 | ||
| West Bromwich Albion | 25,828 | 490,726 | 26,344 | 24,741 | ||
| Hull City | 24,816 | 471,507 | 24,945 | 24,282 | ||
| Fulham | 24,340 | 462,462 | 25,661 | 22,259 | 23,775 | 565 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 23,474 | 446,012 | 28,389 | 17,606 | 23,944 | -470 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 22,486 | 427,228 | 26,021 | 19,884 | 20,901 | 1,585 |
| Portsmouth | 19,830 | 376,772 | 20,540 | 18,111 | 19,914 | -84 |
| Wigan Athletic | 18,350 | 348,656 | 22,954 | 14,169 | 19,046 | -696 |
| Total | 35,599 | 13,527,703 | -180,656 |
