What was the official attendance on Saturday?

[once_bitterne]

The club don't seem to be releasing this anymore.

There appeared to be thousands of empty seats.

[IFHP]

2 minutes ago, once_bitterne said:

The club don't seem to be releasing this anymore.

There appeared to be thousands of empty seats.

Looked to me to be around the 25,000 mark. 

Not sure why the club have so far to published - perhaps the new super duper scanners are slow at counting 

[Whitey Grandad]

My secretary said that her son and a mate were in town on Saturday and thought they might go along and see the match. The queues were so long that with the uncertainty about whether they would be allowed to buy a ticket they gave up and walked away. Can anyone just turn up and buy a ticket on the day?

[Tony F]

35 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

My secretary said that her son and a mate were in town on Saturday and thought they might go along and see the match. The queues were so long that with the uncertainty about whether they would be allowed to buy a ticket they gave up and walked away. Can anyone just turn up and buy a ticket on the day?

I'm pretty sure that "casual walk ups" are no longer welcome. 

By my understanding, for right or wrong, it's because the club cannot assure home/away segregation if they allow walk-ups from persons not members or on the buyer database.

[Matthew Le God]

11 minutes ago, Tony F said:

I'm pretty sure that "casual walk ups" are no longer welcome. 

By my understanding, for right or wrong, it's because the club cannot assure home/away segregation if they allow walk-ups from persons not members or on the buyer database.

They can't do that anyway as tickets can be sold on to someone else.

[CB Fry]

Might be me but I don't think anyone is publishing attendances at the moment.  Where it used to be just a standard stat underneath the scoreline of any match report, its now nowhere to be seen, even when you look for it.

[Kingsland Codger]

www.soccerbase.com gives attendances - Everton = 38,487; Manchester Unites = 29,485; Newport = 7,002 and Newcastle 44,017. No figure is given for the West Ham game on Saturday.

[JRM]

38 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Might be me but I don't think anyone is publishing attendances at the moment.  Where it used to be just a standard stat underneath the scoreline of any match report, its now nowhere to be seen, even when you look for it.

Yeah they are still published, being an anorak I always have a look at the attendances, we don't seem to have published the West Ham attendance but I'd say we were the only Premier league game not sold out on Saturday, imagine if west ham hadn't brought 3300 down it would have been even worse. 

[rooney]

Good job thee is nobody who requires a stadium extension anymore.

[tunit]

I'm surprised at the empty seats if I'm honest. We're still in the premier league. I understand if its a financial thing with people being laid off for covid reasons, but if its just because of the pessimism before this season thats incredibly fickle. 

[jamesfp1]

I assumed it's just where the team has performed so badly for so long

[Saint Garrett]

I think its a variety of things.

• Matchday prices
• Being shit for ages
• Some probably don't feel comfortable returning yet.
• People have lost income in the last 2 years
• General price of living has increased

I really thought they might drop the prices for this season to entice people back, but the issue is the club need as much money as possible, given we have an owner who doesn't have any either.

The first two games suggest the pricing is not right, and I fully expect to see deals flying out soon to get people through the door.

 

[Whitey Grandad]

Don't forget the ST holders who were kicked out of their regular seats. 

[JRM]

19 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

I think its a variety of things.

• Matchday prices
• Being shit for ages
• Some probably don't feel comfortable returning yet.
• People have lost income in the last 2 years
• General price of living has increased

I really thought they might drop the prices for this season to entice people back, but the issue is the club need as much money as possible, given we have an owner who doesn't have any either.

The first two games suggest the pricing is not right, and I fully expect to see deals flying out soon to get people through the door.

 

There's category A - D this season, we've got Burnley at home coming up that is one of only two games at D level, cheap prices but will also be small away following so expect to see plenty of empty seats still. 

[Ldnsaint]

18 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Don't forget the ST holders who were kicked out of their regular seats. 

pretty sure they can just sit somewhere else 🤣

 

also, no chance there were 29,000 at Man United

[eurosaint]

2 hours ago, JRM said:

Yeah they are still published, being an anorak I always have a look at the attendances, we don't seem to have published the West Ham attendance but I'd say we were the only Premier league game not sold out on Saturday, imagine if west ham hadn't brought 3300 down it would have been even worse. 

Sorry mate, you're not in the same league as MLG 🤣

[St Louis]

I noticed on Match of The Day that our attendance also wasn't shown.

Most of the other games showed the attendance after the match, when the stats scroll through (shots, cards, xG, etc)

[alehouseboys]

It would be interesting to know the average age of the stay-aways as it seems to me that we may have a higher percentage of old gits in our support (I include myself in that, not too far off retirement age), it seems greater than at other grounds I visit.

Maybe the COVID scare for oldies had taken a bigger toll on our attendances?

Edited 13 September, 2021 by alehouseboys
Typo

[CB Fry]

2 hours ago, JRM said:

Yeah they are still published, being an anorak I always have a look at the attendances, we don't seem to have published the West Ham attendance but I'd say we were the only Premier league game not sold out on Saturday, imagine if west ham hadn't brought 3300 down it would have been even worse. 

Fair enough it is me. Just seems that attendances for everyone was a bit more hidden this season but I've looked a bit harder now and found them for other clubs. Really odd we're not sharing.

[The Left Back]

2 hours ago, JRM said:

Yeah they are still published, being an anorak I always have a look at the attendances, we don't seem to have published the West Ham attendance but I'd say we were the only Premier league game not sold out on Saturday, imagine if west ham hadn't brought 3300 down it would have been even worse. 

Where do you look at the attendances to draw that conclusion?  I also take an interest in the topic of attendances and am struggling to find definitive data.

This link https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/besucherzahlen/wettbewerb/GB1/saison_id/2021 shows four clubs, including ours,  have not submitted attendance data so far this season and that a number of  clubs, including the champions, are not selling out.  Most of the other sites have even less complete data.

That's not to say we are getting near capacity.  Looking around on Saturday I was guessing 25-26k so something is not right.  But the narrative that it is just us that has a problem seems baseless unless you can help me find some more credible data.

[whiteleySaint30]

22 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Fair enough it is me. Just seems that attendances for everyone was a bit more hidden this season but I've looked a bit harder now and found them for other clubs. Really odd we're not sharing.

Too embarrassed to share them - hopefully there will be a realisation at some point they cannot continue to rip fans off ar every turn (I'm still one by by the way but everyone has their limit).

[redandwhitey]

I think we have a lot of fans that got bored with the football we have played in the last five years, and during COVID have got out of the habit. First time in thirty odd years I’ve not renewed, so I don’t consider myself fickle - just fed up.

[LuckyNumber7]

23 minutes ago, redandwhitey said:

I think we have a lot of fans that got bored with the football we have played in the last five years, and during COVID have got out of the habit. First time in thirty odd years I’ve not renewed, so I don’t consider myself fickle - just fed up.

Nail on head.

It feels a long time since going to St Marys has been enjoyable, in recent years I was going more out of habit and a sense of duty rather than looking forward to it. The break for Covid has broken that habit. Pricing doesn't help but I'm sure there are many who just can't be bothered any more.

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Don't forget the ST holders who were kicked out of their regular seats. 

How could we, you don’t shut up about it. 

[Charlie Wayman]

3 hours ago, tunit said:

I'm surprised at the empty seats if I'm honest. We're still in the premier league. I understand if its a financial thing with people being laid off for covid reasons, but if its just because of the pessimism before this season thats incredibly fickle. 

Why the surprise and search for reasons for empty seats? Many older and clinically vulnerable fans have not been persuaded to return because of Covid infection concerns. There are very high infection rates in cities and no guarantee that a few people with Covid will not be sat near you in the stadium. In a crowd of 20k at least one two Covid cases could be almost guaranteed. Now that the idea of vaccine passports has been kicked into the long grass the future has become even more precarious for vulnerable folk and many will never return. 

[whelk]

Any fans fed up can fuck off anyway as will be the ones that moan all game. Got tired of their entertainment fix.

Maybe the women’s game is tempting these fans away?

[whelk]

8 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Why the surprise and search for reasons for empty seats? Many older and clinically vulnerable fans have not been persuaded to return because of Covid infection concerns. There are very high infection rates in cities and no guarantee that a few people with Covid will not be sat near you in the stadium. In a crowd of 20k at least one two Covid cases could be almost guaranteed. Now that the idea of vaccine passports has been kicked into the long grass the future has become even more precarious for vulnerable folk and many will never return. 

Will be some but shouldn’t disproportionately affect Saints. Everyone else seems to be getting decent crowds

[Nordic Saint]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Why the surprise and search for reasons for empty seats? Many older and clinically vulnerable fans have not been persuaded to return because of Covid infection concerns. There are very high infection rates in cities and no guarantee that a few people with Covid will not be sat near you in the stadium. In a crowd of 20k at least one two Covid cases could be almost guaranteed. Now that the idea of vaccine passports has been kicked into the long grass the future has become even more precarious for vulnerable folk and many will never return. 

I think you could be right, especially as the average age of the fans who usually attend St Mary's must be among the oldest at any Premier League stadium. I noticed at the pre-season friendlies v Levante and Athletic Bilbao that there were very few old fans present and even at the Man United and West Ham games, there seemed to be fewer than usual. That begs the question, why don't we have as high a percentage of younger fans as other clubs? I think a lot of it is to do with our pricing structure. Less is done to encourage teenagers and fans in their early 20s to come with their mates than at many other clubs, where there are often generous discounts. Also, ironically, because of the stadium's limited capacity, which has meant the ground has nearly always been more than 90% full for PL games, the Club has never felt any real need to encourage new fans. Perhaps they will now.

Edited 13 September, 2021 by Nordic Saint

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

How could we, you don’t shut up about it. 

Why should I?

This one will run and run.

[The Curse of St Mary's]

The ticket prices seem high but I know how we compare to other similar stature clubs in PL. They wanted £70 for me and my two lads under 11 to watch the two preseason games which I felt was insane. The attendances in those games would appear to back my opinion up. Club will end up doing deals I think as the amount of empty seats is alarming.  Cost of living is going up and will continue to rise. I'm out of pocket by appx £800 per year in last week alone just because of NI and energy bill hike. 

[Micky]

Notwithstanding covid and the reasons associated with it I think the bottom line is simply if the product is worth watching,  people would pay to watch it.  Given the complete car crash 2nd half of last season, not won a game this season,  people are voting with their feet.  Can't remember who it was attributed to but the old adage 'get it right on the pitch and the rest will look after itself' rings true.   Start to show some form, win some matches  and the full houses will come. 

[JRM]

5 hours ago, The Left Back said:

Where do you look at the attendances to draw that conclusion?  I also take an interest in the topic of attendances and am struggling to find definitive data.

This link https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/besucherzahlen/wettbewerb/GB1/saison_id/2021 shows four clubs, including ours,  have not submitted attendance data so far this season and that a number of  clubs, including the champions, are not selling out.  Most of the other sites have even less complete data.

That's not to say we are getting near capacity.  Looking around on Saturday I was guessing 25-26k so something is not right.  But the narrative that it is just us that has a problem seems baseless unless you can help me find some more credible data.

Most of them were in the newspaper, I'll try to dig it out. 

Quite a few impressive attendances in lower leagues as well,  27k at Sheff Utd v Peterborough for example. 

[SNSUN]

I'm personally making more of an effort to get down to St Mary's this season than I have for a few years. I'll be at the Wolves game firstly. Trouble is as a shift worker it greatly restricts how much I can get down there.

 

I miss the Royal Oak though. Used to be a good atmosphere for pre match pints.

[nta786]

I'd definitely say that our low attendances is around 90% due to the pricing, make it slightly cheaper and improve the product on pitch and fans will come back.

I'd love the Athletic or someone to cover pricing for this season, but on a quick glance this is what I have observed:

Burnley charged between £30-£50 for their game against Brighton, with £50 reserved for just the 2 blocks behind the dugouts. Our same game vs Brighton will range from £30 to £70, which includes one block in the Kingsland Plus at £70, and other Itchen/Kingsland premium seats at £60!

https://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/content/tickets-burnley-v-brighton

Leicester- their category A ticket prices i.e. against the top 6 ranges from £32 to just £53!!! Again, we charged £30 to £89 for our opener against United!!! 

https://tickets.lcfc.com/screenloader.aspx?type=include&page=custom/documents/html/ticketprices.html

Leeds - their Category A+ ticket prices - ranges from £35 to just £47 for the best seats, and as echoed above we charged £30 - £89... 

https://www.leedsunited.com/tickets/info

This is just a sample of 3 clubs but I have no doubt we made a complete blunder in relation to pricing. The family stand should have just stretched to block 17, and the Itchen South prices could have extended to around Block 17 too.

I've put in links above in case anyone wants to verify the information too. 

Generally from what I have seen from MOTD and other highlights, it looks like everyone is selling out but I can guarantee that for us this season no one will need a membership in order to be able to get a ticket. 

Edited 14 September, 2021 by nta786

[JRM]

17 minutes ago, nta786 said:

I'd definitely say that our low attendances is around 90% due to the pricing, make it slightly cheaper and improve the product on pitch and fans will come back.

I'd love the Athletic or someone to cover pricing for this season, but on a quick glance this is what I have observed:

Burnley charged between £30-£50 for their game against Brighton, with £50 reserved for just the 2 blocks behind the dugouts. Our same game vs Brighton will range from £30 to £70, which includes one block in the Kingsland Plus at £70, and other Itchen/Kingsland premium seats at £60!

https://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/content/tickets-burnley-v-brighton

Leicester- their category A ticket prices i.e. against the top 6 ranges from £32 to just £53!!! Again, we charged £30 to £89 for our opener against United!!! 

https://tickets.lcfc.com/screenloader.aspx?type=include&page=custom/documents/html/ticketprices.html

Leeds - their Category A+ ticket prices - ranges from £35 to just £47 for the best seats, and as echoed above we charged £30 - £89... 

https://www.leedsunited.com/tickets/info

This is just a sample of 3 clubs but I have no doubt we made a complete blunder in relation to pricing. The family stand should have just stretched to block 17, and the Itchen South prices could have extended to around Block 17 too.

I've put in links above in case anyone wants to verify the information too. 

Generally from what I have seen from MOTD and other highlights, it looks like everyone is selling out but I can guarantee that for us this season no one will need a membership in order to be able to get a ticket. 

I agree with you, I think we have a ticket and marketing team who have been very naive, probably compared us to London clubs like Spurs and Chelsea and decided we need more premium high price tickets. 

Despite Hampshire having some wealthy areas we just don't have the demand for that sort of thing, last few seasons hospitality regularly has large empty areas and executive boxes remain empty so who knows why they thought we needed £89 padded seats in the Kingsland, just a way of pushing out legacy fans. 

I know lads who go to Spurs, even with the bigger stadium it seems there's a never ending supply of people looking for tickets, on the other hand Saints promise we can sell back our season ticket for games we can't get to, but only if the match is already sold out, doesn't look like that will be happening this season. 

[saint1977]

27 minutes ago, nta786 said:

I'd definitely say that our low attendances is around 90% due to the pricing, make it slightly cheaper and improve the product on pitch and fans will come back.

I'd love the Athletic or someone to cover pricing for this season, but on a quick glance this is what I have observed:

Burnley charged between £30-£50 for their game against Brighton, with £50 reserved for just the 2 blocks behind the dugouts. Our same game vs Brighton will range from £30 to £70, which includes one block in the Kingsland Plus at £70, and other Itchen/Kingsland premium seats at £60!

https://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/content/tickets-burnley-v-brighton

Leicester- their category A ticket prices i.e. against the top 6 ranges from £32 to just £53!!! Again, we charged £30 to £89 for our opener against United!!! 

https://tickets.lcfc.com/screenloader.aspx?type=include&page=custom/documents/html/ticketprices.html

Leeds - their Category A+ ticket prices - ranges from £35 to just £47 for the best seats, and as echoed above we charged £30 - £89... 

https://www.leedsunited.com/tickets/info

This is just a sample of 3 clubs but I have no doubt we made a complete blunder in relation to pricing. The family stand should have just stretched to block 17, and the Itchen South prices could have extended to around Block 17 too.

I've put in links above in case anyone wants to verify the information too. 

Generally from what I have seen from MOTD and other highlights, it looks like everyone is selling out but I can guarantee that for us this season no one will need a membership in order to be able to get a ticket. 

This is what I suspected, allied to 5 years of largely pathetic home performances (excluding immediate lockdown games and first 2 home games of this season). The club feel they have to jack the prices up because of the absent ownership but it isn’t sustainable for a lower wage (comparatively to the SE) economy like Southampton or indeed Portsmouth. Best solution is for Gao to sell before the club is relegated to someone who can at least underwrite or invest when needed modestly. I’m sure Semmens has told him if relegation happens he will be selling it for a quid before administration but the message doesn’t seem to be getting through. 

Edited 14 September, 2021 by saint1977

[suewhistle]

I read that another club with ownership issues, Newcastle, have been giving out tickets to local clubs and schools. Maybe we'll resort to that? As Saint Garrett said there are probably a number of reasons but I reckon pricing, performances and habit in that order, with Covid for the older cohort. I'm a pensioner too and will continue to go but may avoid crowded pre-match pubs as winter draws in..

[rooney]

6 hours ago, suewhistle said:

I read that another club with ownership issues, Newcastle, have been giving out tickets to local clubs and schools. Maybe we'll resort to that? As Saint Garrett said there are probably a number of reasons but I reckon pricing, performances and habit in that order, with Covid for the older cohort. I'm a pensioner too and will continue to go but may avoid crowded pre-match pubs as winter draws in..

Not such a bad idea to give out tickets as it costs the club nothing and they benefit from add on purchases on the day. We have done it before.

[Turkish]

17 hours ago, JRM said:

Most of them were in the newspaper, I'll try to dig it out. 

Quite a few impressive attendances in lower leagues as well,  27k at Sheff Utd v Peterborough for example. 

Bradford had 14k for their last home games, 17k for the first game of the season. Superb for a league 2 club

[bpsaint]

2 hours ago, rooney said:

Not such a bad idea to give out tickets as it costs the club nothing and they benefit from add on purchases on the day. We have done it before.

You’d never hear the end of it from some of our entitled fans if we started giving away free tickets when people have had to pay for season tickets, even if it was only to kids.

Get the young ones in now and you can keep them tied in the the club for life. Maybe have kids for a quid when an adult pays or something similar to get bums on seats. Don’t know our pricing for the late teen, young adult demographic but this should be affordable too - need the “lads” to help the atmosphere home and away, especially if we were to go down.
 

Have to say fair play to Leeds and Leicester for their pricing this season. Whilst £53 is still too high to watch a game of football in my eyes it’s a darn sight better value then watching us. At least those clubs are actually trying to achieve something special.

 

 

 

 

[Matthew Le God]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

Bradford had 14k for their last home games, 17k for the first game of the season. Superb for a league 2 club

Bradford's season tickets (for 23 games, not the 19 games in the PL) cost significantly less than Southampton's!

vs...

Edited 14 September, 2021 by Matthew Le God

[Turkish]

18 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Bradford's season tickets (for 23 games, not the 19 games in the PL) cost significantly less than Southampton's!

vs...

What has that got to do with anything? 

[Matthew Le God]

Just now, Turkish said:

What has that got to do with anything? 

In a pandemic it is alot easier to afford a £198 season ticket to watch 23 games of football vs paying £1,149 to watch 19 games of football!

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

In a pandemic it is alot easier to afford a £198 season ticket to watch 23 games of football vs paying £1,149 to watch 19 games of football!

What the fuck are you on about? I simply commented about Bradfords attendances in reply to JRM saying there have been some good crowds in the lower leagues. It had fuck all to do with cost per match, pandemics or how affordable season tickets are. Just a comment about a specific  clubs attendances in reply to a comment about good lower league crowds. As usual you’ve waded in and made a knob of yourself.

Edited 14 September, 2021 by Turkish

[egg]

9 hours ago, suewhistle said:

I read that another club with ownership issues, Newcastle, have been giving out tickets to local clubs and schools. Maybe we'll resort to that? As Saint Garrett said there are probably a number of reasons but I reckon pricing, performances and habit in that order, with Covid for the older cohort. I'm a pensioner too and will continue to go but may avoid crowded pre-match pubs as winter draws in..

Yep, it's not a bad idea, and kids getting to watch a game either cheap or free is much better than seeing empty seats. I'm with you and Saint Garrett too as to why the ground is not full. Pricing is the only part of that which the club can do anything about, but they're hamstrung to a large extent as there'd be hell to pay of casual fans are paying less than the season ticket pro rata price. 

[egg]

11 minutes ago, Turkish said:

What the fuck are you on about? I simply commented about Bradfords attendances in reply to JRM saying there have been some good crowds in the lower leagues. It had fuck all to do with cost per match, pandemics or how affordable season tickets are. Just a comment about a specific  clubs attendances in reply to a comment about good lower league crowds. As usual you’ve waded in and made a knob of yourself.

To be fair, the fact that their tickets are cheap will be a reason why they've sold loads of tickets. 

[Turkish]

Just now, egg said:

To be fair, the fact that their tickets are cheap will be a reason why they've sold loads of tickets. 

FFS. I simply commented Bradford had 17,000 which is superb for a league two club in reply to someone else saying there were some good lower league crowds. I really am not interested in why or how. Banging on about how they compare to saints prices or pandemics or average cost per game is not the point in what was a very simple post. 

[egg]

5 minutes ago, Turkish said:

FFS. I simply commented Bradford had 17,000 which is superb for a league two club in reply to someone else saying there were some good lower league crowds. I really am not interested in why or how. Banging on about how they compare to saints prices or pandemics or average cost per game is not the point in what was a very simple post. 

It's a forum mate, you post something, you've gotta expect comment or opinions. Nature of the beast. 

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

It's a forum mate, you post something, you've gotta expect comment or opinions. Nature of the beast. 

Well in that case hats off to Bradford for getting it spot on. Saints take note you can get big crowds in a pandemic of the price is right 

[CB Fry]

I'm just amazed we aren't selling out when you consider the size of our catchment area now that Bournemouth and both South Wales clubs aren't in the Prem.