Attendance Figures

**Hatch** · 12-09-2018, 10:56 AM

Seems we are pulling a fast one,

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45158878

Southampton: Hampshire Police figures were an average of 4,246 fans lower than figures issued by the club.

Thats quite a big percentage.

**Faz** · 12-09-2018, 11:05 AM

What a pointless non-story. So what.

**beatlesaint** · 12-09-2018, 11:10 AM

Originally Posted by Hatch

Seems we are pulling a fast one,

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45158878

Thats quite a big percentage.

no we arent pulling a fast one. The article answers its own question really. Clubs choose to publicise the number of tickets sold which include non attending season ticket holders etc, Plod chose the actual number that turn up.

**arfurdent** · 12-09-2018, 11:11 AM

there were not 7000 empty seats at the Bournemouth match. I wonder if HMRC are looking at the tax implications of this report

**John D** · 12-09-2018, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by arfurdent

there were not 7000 empty seats at the Bournemouth match. I wonder if HMRC are looking at the tax implications of this report

Which are what? Clubs are declaring tickets sold and presumably playing tax in line with that income. That is a higher amount than police figures so if anything they are overstating

**Saints foreva** · 12-09-2018, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by arfurdent

there were not 7000 empty seats at the Bournemouth match. I wonder if HMRC are looking at the tax implications of this report

Wouldn't be surprised if they've got that mixed up with the Brighton home game, where there were thousands of empty seats but the club gave a 30,000 attendance to the press.

**Chez** · 12-09-2018, 12:17 PM

"The Saints said their attendance for Chelsea's visit on 14 April was 31,764 but police figures show 6,945 fewer fans at St Mary's. There was also a difference of 6,799 (31,778 - 24,979) for the home game against south-coast rivals Bournemouth."

that a hell of a lot of empty seats for those two games. I don't recall there being that many at either game. I wonder how are the council counted them or did SFC simply provide them with the figures, which they'd have.

**Chez** · 12-09-2018, 12:26 PM

"But Southampton are among those clubs who said there was no commercial gain from doing this as television money was the biggest source of income."

If you were paying for an advertisement hoarding that was not on the TV side of the ground, then total attendance over the season might be a small factor in what you are willing to pay, although the chance of appearing on TV (there are so many cameras on all sides) and other media probably is a bigger factor.

**benjii** · 12-09-2018, 12:30 PM

How do the police know how many people are there?

I don't think nearly a quarter of the ground was empty for the Chelsea or Bournemouth matches.

**Chez** · 12-09-2018, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by beatlesaint

Clubs choose to publicise the number of tickets sold which include non attending season ticket holders etc,

why do we/they do it?

Who do they think is interested in this pointless figure that neither represents how many have paid (as it includes complimentary tickets) or have actually attended (non-attending season ticket holders and any other non attendees)?

does the club still make an announcement "Today's attendance is..."

**Nordic Saint** · 12-09-2018, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by Chez

"The Saints said their attendance for Chelsea's visit on 14 April was 31,764 but police figures show 6,945 fewer fans at St Mary's. There was also a difference of 6,799 (31,778 - 24,979) for the home game against south-coast rivals Bournemouth."

that a hell of a lot of empty seats for those two games. I don't recall there being that many at either game. I wonder how are the council counted them or did SFC simply provide them with the figures, which they'd have.

Police getting things wrong shocker. Perhaps among their well-publicised staff shortages are the people who can count properly. Another interesting figure I saw in the media recently: nobody is convicted for 97% of the crimes committed in this country.

**Saint Pete** · 12-09-2018, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by Nordic Saint

Police getting things wrong shocker. Perhaps among their well-publicised staff shortages are the people who can count properly. Another interesting figure I saw in the media recently: nobody is convicted for 97% of the crimes committed in this country.

I don't believe there are police around the grounds actually counting up how many people enter the stadium or populate their seats! It's much more likely they request that info from the clubs to help them plan their resources for policing games.

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**suewhistle** · 12-09-2018, 01:45 PM

I read that article before coming to see if referenced here. I'm with Chez, I haven't noted any major discrepancies, particularly in the specific games mentioned, and as I'm in the Itchen I get a good view of the rest of the ground. In the case of Arsenal, Citeh or WH you can see swathes of empty seats in any photos/video, often in their higher tiers, but nothing like that at St. Marys. Chelsea only 24,800 and Bournemouth only 24979? I really don't think so.

**Pamplemousse** · 12-09-2018, 02:33 PM

For some reason it's the main article on the BBC Sport website.

The BBC, and in particular the sport department, love to do this, create their own news and sensationalise what is in effect a complete non-story.

**Faz** · 12-09-2018, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by Pamplemousse

For some reason it's the main article on the BBC Sport website.

The BBC, and in particular the sport department, love to do this, create their own news and sensationalise what is in effect a complete non-story.

And, wasting scarce tax-payer resources by filing spurious and capricious FOI requests.

**The Cat** · 12-09-2018, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Saint Pete

I don't believe there are police around the grounds actually counting up how many people enter the stadium or populate their seats! It's much more likely they request that info from the clubs to help them plan their resources for policing games.

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Resources for games are organised well in advance. It depends on the opposition, previous history of trouble and intel.

I'm not sure where police figures some from. The ones for Bournemouth and Chelsea are clearly wrong. Only thing I can think of is that they get them from turnstile clicks and some of the turnstiles weren't registering correctly. You only have to look at the highlights to see the ground was nearly full for both games.

**LuckyNumber7** · 12-09-2018, 03:59 PM

As far as I recall the ground looked full for both those Bournemouth and Chelsea games, not a chance in hell there were nearly 7000 empty seats at either. What a load of nonsense.

**angelman** · 12-09-2018, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by arfurdent

there were not 7000 empty seats at the Bournemouth match. I wonder if HMRC are looking at the tax implications of this report

Originally Posted by Chez

"The Saints said their attendance for Chelsea's visit on 14 April was 31,764 but police figures show 6,945 fewer fans at St Mary's. There was also a difference of 6,799 (31,778 - 24,979) for the home game against south-coast rivals Bournemouth."

that a hell of a lot of empty seats for those two games. I don't recall there being that many at either game. I wonder how are the council counted them or did SFC simply provide them with the figures, which they'd have.

Have to agree that there was no way in hell that there were near 7000 empty seats for those games. That's about 22% of the total capacity.

Wonder if the difference is down to the club talking about league only, and the police including cup games.

**Heisenberg** · 12-09-2018, 05:22 PM

Haven't we started flogging tickets on Groupon?

Explains why if we have tons of empty seats.

**JRM** · 12-09-2018, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by Chez

"The Saints said their attendance for Chelsea's visit on 14 April was 31,764 but police figures show 6,945 fewer fans at St Mary's. There was also a difference of 6,799 (31,778 - 24,979) for the home game against south-coast rivals Bournemouth."

that a hell of a lot of empty seats for those two games. I don't recall there being that many at either game. I wonder how are the council counted them or did SFC simply provide them with the figures, which they'd have.

Police figures are nonsense in that report , both games were probably some of our best attended with Chelsea before cup semi final and Bournemouth big survival game, hardly any empty seats unlike other home games we'd had earlier in year .