The attendance at the Stadium of Light this weekend for the visit of Fulham will be of particular interest to all who follow the Black Cats as the Sunderland hierarchy pull out all the stops to ensure the gate is not embarrassingly low.Sunderland have three relatively low key fixtures at the Stadium Of Light before Xmas and with the country and the north east region in particular tightening their purse strings not even the most optimistic of the Sunderland management team can be expecting any of the upcoming games to show an attendance above the 37 000 average for the 2011-12 season to-date.
With Wigan to visit the Stadium Of Light the week following Fulham and Blackburn Rovers on Sunday December 11th at the dreadful time of 1.30pm ,(just when everyone is having Sunday lunch), marginal Sunderland fans could think that Xmas has come early as Santa offers the tempting present of nine home points and turn up in their thousands or choose to follow their side via anyone of the multitude of ways modern technology now allows including of course , the classic – going down the pub.
The visit of Blackburn Rovers on Sunday December 11th may be a critical encounter for both club’s this season and undoubtedly Sky sports will promote it as a relegation six pointer but it could well produce the lowest Premier league attendance at the Stadium Of Light ever . Currently that dubious record belongs to the rearranged game against Fulham on Thursday May 4th 2006 when a crowd of 28 226 turned up to see Kevin Ball’s bottom of the table team win and move to 15 points for the season. You know it’s a bad season when Dean Whitehead is joint top scorer – with three goals!
Attendances at the Stadium Of Light have been falling ever since the club were relegated in 2003 with the two best season’s average attendances not surprisingly coinciding with the two seventh place finishes recorded under Peter Reid in 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 with over 46 700 average per seaso.
When returning to the Premier League under Roy Keane the Black Cats attracted an average crowd of 43 344 and this has fallen to just over 40 000 for each of the last two seasons. Generally this season crowds have edged lower as the club’s poor start to the season and the 1-0 home defeat to Newcastle tested fan’s allegiance to manager Steve Bruce. Only 32 296 die hards turned up for the Sunday game against Stoke City in warm and sunny conditions in September and the economic screw has turned harder since .
It is a far cry from earlier this year when then Chairman Niall Quinn made a huge gaff during his campaign to increase attendances at the Stadium Of Light by saying he “despised” Sunderland fans who stay in local pubs to watch Sunderland games . At the time Quinn was absolutely committed on ensuring that average crowds were 43 000 or higher and fervently believed that this was the only basis for the Club to be able to compete financially within the Premier League. Average crowds so far this season are around 37 000 and set to go lower despite the Club offering tickets at just £10 for Under 16s.
The Stadium Of Light is a fantastic arena and when full an incredibly intimidating venue for the opposition teams. The only way to bring marginal fans back to the Stadium Of Light on a regular basis is to play fast, exciting football and when that happens the fans will return. Games against Fulham, Wigan and Blackburn give the current manager Steve Bruce an opportunity to show that his team can attract the crowds, score goals and win games. Will It Happen ?
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