League One attendance map
League One – Results, Fixtures, Table (Soccerway.com).
‘2011–12 Football League One‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
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Note: to see my latest map-&-post of the English 3rd division, click on the following, Eng-3rd Level/League One.
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As I mentioned in my League Two post {here}, 5 clubs in the 2011-12 League One had a percent-capacity (for home league matches) of 60% or higher, last season [2010-11]. Here are the five…
67.0%-capacity – Chesterfield. A brand-new stadium (B2net Stadium, capacity 10,400) and a season-long-spell near the top of the table was a winning combination for the Spireites, who drew 6,972 per game in 2010-11. Chesterfield manager John Sheridan now has the task of making Chesterfield a viable third division side. The North Derbyshire club’s last spell in the 3rd Level lasted 6 seasons from 2001-02 to 2008-07, but Chesterfield never finished higher than 16th place.
66.4%-capacity – AFC Bournemouth. After avoiding financial meltdown, Bournemouth won promotion from League Two in 2010. The club lost manager Eddie Howe to Burnley in Jan. 2011, but still maintained good form and qualified for the play-offs, where they lost to Huddersfield Town in the first round. Caretaker manager Lee Bradbury got a 2 and-a-half year deal. The Cherries drew a solid 7,103 to their 10,700-capacity Dean Court.
63.1%-capacity – Sheffield United. A season from hell in South Yorkshire for Blades fans. Sheffield United sacked manager Kevin Blackwell after 3 games, hired Gary Speed, then he up and left them for the Wales job in December. The Blades never recovered. The solidity of the club’s fan base shows in their half-decent percent-capacity figure. They drew 20,632 per game to their 32,702-capacity Brammall Lane. Well, getting the drop to the third tier while still drawing over 20,000 per game worked out, in the end, for Norwich City. Blades supporters should just roll with it and treat this as an opportunity to finally visit places like Yeovil in Somerset, and Birkenhead in the Wirral [Tranmesre Rovers], and Carlisle in Cumbria.
61.07%-capacity – Exeter City. Exeter City, along with fellow League One club Brentford, are the highest-placed supporter-owned football clubs in England. Exeter City FC is wholly owned by Exeter Supporters Trust. The Grecians, despite their isolation in Devon, have been having a great run. Back-to-back promotions were followed last season by an impressive 8th place finish. Exeter drew 5,393 per game at their St. James Park, which has a capacity of 8,830. Attendance was actually down from 2009-10 (by minus-7.5%), but a good deal of that drop can be explained by the spate of cancellations and mid-week re-scheduled matches last winter, combined with Exeter’s isolated location.
60.4%-capacity – Scunthorpe United. Scunthorpe’s relegation was a blessing in disguise, because now the club doesn’t have to tear down a stand and re-build it as an all-seater. {See this, from Nov.2010, from The Two Unfortunates site, by Lloyd, ‘Keep Scunthorpe Standing‘}. Scunthorpe drew 5,548 per game last season at their 9,183-capacity Glanford Park. With up-and-coming manager Alan Knill (who played 130 games for Scunthorpe as a central defender in the 1990s), the club looks to be in a good position to compete for promotion once again. Maybe once they get back to the Championship and consolidate there, the Football League will have re-considered their rule that basically forces cash-strapped clubs to tear down perfectly good terraces. Germany does just fine with safe all-standing terraces, not just in the German second division (Bundesliga-2), but also in Bundesliga.
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Here are the clubs that the oddsmakers have tipped to be promotion favorites…
From Statto.com, English League One – Promotion Odds. Top pick to get promotion is Huddersfield Town (of course). Second best pick is Sheffield Wednesday, followed by Preston North End, Sheffield United, and Charlton Athletic.
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Hartlepool United’s cut-price season ticket scheme has been very successful, with the County Durham club selling 5,750 season tickets {See this, from HartlepoolMail.co.uk, ‘Pools season ticket push‘}. So Victoria Park, which has a capacity of just 7,787 for league games, will be seeing much higher percent-capacitry figures this season [note: their first home match on 13 Aug. drew 5,170]. Hartlepool is 41 km. (25 miles) SE of Newcastle, and has a population of around 90,000 {2006 figure}. Pools only drew 2,933 per game last season, and have been playing to mid-3,000-size crowds for half a decade now, yet have still managed to hang on in the third tier for 7 of their last 8 seasons. In the 2003-04 season, they drew 5,419, so it looks like some of those fans of the Monkey Hangers have come out of the woodwork for this deal.
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Thanks to E-F-S site, for attendance figures.
Thanks to the FootballGroundGuide.com, for stadium capacities.
