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Around 90,000 possibly more for league 1

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Our core support has increased as we got worse, I remember many games in the championship being 25-26k, now it’s over 30k, and at roker we would be lucky to get 18k for a normal League game in 2nd tier.

It begs the question, why? Why do we go? People down south seem to believe it’s cos there’s fuck all else to do up here and that may be true to an extent, but I’d say what else would you rather be doing on a Saturday afternoon?

It’s not always enjoyable when we are absolutely shit, but would I rather be in the metro centre or visiting f***ing farms or building flat pack furniture or some shit the wife would have me doing otherwise? Bollocks. I’m out, it’s a given, not booked in the f***ing diary, it’s 12pm giz a lift to the harbour love and pick the lads up in the way. And now my son is in to it as well (even my daughter has been twice this year and loved it!) I don’t even have to feel guilty about f***ing them off every Saturday, result.

Pints, socialising, walk to the ground as the crowd grows around you, burgers, sweets for the nipper, queues, noise, hello mate how you doing to the same people I’ve bumped in to for 32 years and know nothing about except they do the same stuff as me every game do they are my mate. Click click in, piss, shit lager, seats, big green pitch, who is starting today, Prokofiev, haway me bonny bonny bairns!

I love it, every second of it, we get beat I’m pissed off, but count the days down to the next one. It’s infectious. To see my boy suck it all up like a sponge now makes me so happy and brings back memories of when I started going, when John Kay was me hero and my sister had a glossy photo of Thomas hauser stuck to her bedroom wall. He absorbs it all, kicks every ball, asks a million questions a minute, everything I wanted. What times he has in front of him going to away games with his pals, I hope he gets as much out of it as I have over the last 32 seasons, and sees us win something along the way. Imagine.
 
Joe Public said:
Our core support has increased as we got worse, I remember many games in the championship being 25-26k, now it’s over 30k, and at roker we would be lucky to get 18k for a normal League game in 2nd tier.

It begs the question, why? Why do we go? People down south seem to believe it’s cos there’s fuck all else to do up here and that may be true to an extent, but I’d say what else would you rather be doing on a Saturday afternoon?

It’s not always enjoyable when we are absolutely shit, but would I rather be in the metro centre or visiting f***ing farms or building flat pack furniture or some shit the wife would have me doing otherwise? Bollocks. I’m out, it’s a given, not booked in the f***ing diary, it’s 12pm giz a lift to the harbour love and pick the lads up in the way. And now my son is in to it as well (even my daughter has been twice this year and loved it!) I don’t even have to feel guilty about f***ing them off every Saturday, result.

Pints, socialising, walk to the ground as the crowd grows around you, burgers, sweets for the nipper, queues, noise, hello mate how you doing to the same people I’ve bumped in to for 32 years and know nothing about except they do the same stuff as me every game do they are my mate. Click click in, piss, shit lager, seats, big green pitch, who is starting today, Prokofiev, haway me bonny bonny bairns!

I love it, every second of it, we get beat I’m pissed off, but count the days down to the next one. It’s infectious. To see my boy suck it all up like a sponge now makes me so happy and brings back memories of when I started going, when John Kay was me hero and my sister had a glossy photo of Thomas hauser stuck to her bedroom wall. He absorbs it all, kicks every ball, asks a million questions a minute, everything I wanted. What times he has in front of him going to away games with his pals, I hope he gets as much out of it as I have over the last 32 seasons, and sees us win something along the way. Imagine.
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Great point about taking the bairns, I wonder do we have a higher proportion of families attending then other clubs?

I’ve 4 kids, and because they enjoy going I’ve got +3 under 16 cards when I renewed mine this year!

No doubt when my youngest daughter is at the age to start going I’ll be adding another!!
 
Joe Public said:
Our core support has increased as we got worse, I remember many games in the championship being 25-26k, now it’s over 30k, and at roker we would be lucky to get 18k for a normal League game in 2nd tier.

It begs the question, why? Why do we go? People down south seem to believe it’s cos there’s fuck all else to do up here and that may be true to an extent, but I’d say what else would you rather be doing on a Saturday afternoon?

It’s not always enjoyable when we are absolutely shit, but would I rather be in the metro centre or visiting f***ing farms or building flat pack furniture or some shit the wife would have me doing otherwise? Bollocks. I’m out, it’s a given, not booked in the f***ing diary, it’s 12pm giz a lift to the harbour love and pick the lads up in the way. And now my son is in to it as well (even my daughter has been twice this year and loved it!) I don’t even have to feel guilty about f***ing them off every Saturday, result.

Pints, socialising, walk to the ground as the crowd grows around you, burgers, sweets for the nipper, queues, noise, hello mate how you doing to the same people I’ve bumped in to for 32 years and know nothing about except they do the same stuff as me every game do they are my mate. Click click in, piss, shit lager, seats, big green pitch, who is starting today, Prokofiev, haway me bonny bonny bairns!

I love it, every second of it, we get beat I’m pissed off, but count the days down to the next one. It’s infectious. To see my boy suck it all up like a sponge now makes me so happy and brings back memories of when I started going, when John Kay was me hero and my sister had a glossy photo of Thomas hauser stuck to her bedroom wall. He absorbs it all, kicks every ball, asks a million questions a minute, everything I wanted. What times he has in front of him going to away games with his pals, I hope he gets as much out of it as I have over the last 32 seasons, and sees us win something along the way. Imagine.
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Great post
 
I suspect it’s not 90,000 people though and that at least some of these individuals will be the same person attending both games. 45,000 attending two big matches. Impressive, but by no means a miracle.
 
Watmore can I say said:
They were given to schools, you must have a short memory if you cant remember huge blocks of kids in the ground in the early to mid 2000's. Can't recall if it was Short or Drumaville who put the block on it. The Mags feasted out on it for years before handing 10000 free season tickets out themselves. Of course it wasn't publicised by Murray but anyone connected with ticketing at the club at the time would verify it. My wife was at Sunderland Uni at the time and they got tickets for a fiver, they offered them out to all the students at that price.
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Well that's not free is it
 
Joe Public said:
Our core support has increased as we got worse, I remember many games in the championship being 25-26k, now it’s over 30k, and at roker we would be lucky to get 18k for a normal League game in 2nd tier.

It begs the question, why? Why do we go? People down south seem to believe it’s cos there’s fuck all else to do up here and that may be true to an extent, but I’d say what else would you rather be doing on a Saturday afternoon?

It’s not always enjoyable when we are absolutely shit, but would I rather be in the metro centre or visiting f***ing farms or building flat pack furniture or some shit the wife would have me doing otherwise? Bollocks. I’m out, it’s a given, not booked in the f***ing diary, it’s 12pm giz a lift to the harbour love and pick the lads up in the way. And now my son is in to it as well (even my daughter has been twice this year and loved it!) I don’t even have to feel guilty about f***ing them off every Saturday, result.

Pints, socialising, walk to the ground as the crowd grows around you, burgers, sweets for the nipper, queues, noise, hello mate how you doing to the same people I’ve bumped in to for 32 years and know nothing about except they do the same stuff as me every game do they are my mate. Click click in, piss, shit lager, seats, big green pitch, who is starting today, Prokofiev, haway me bonny bonny bairns!

I love it, every second of it, we get beat I’m pissed off, but count the days down to the next one. It’s infectious. To see my boy suck it all up like a sponge now makes me so happy and brings back memories of when I started going, when John Kay was me hero and my sister had a glossy photo of Thomas hauser stuck to her bedroom wall. He absorbs it all, kicks every ball, asks a million questions a minute, everything I wanted. What times he has in front of him going to away games with his pals, I hope he gets as much out of it as I have over the last 32 seasons, and sees us win something along the way. Imagine.
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What a post mate.
It couldn’t be summed up better.
 
Watmore can I say said:
Let's not forget we were regularly handing out 5000 free tickets, an inconsiderate truth. I'd say our support now is on a much higher level which is bizarre after the shite we've endured. The support is actually becoming more ardent in adversity, true support not glory seekers.
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Mag made myth
Watmore can I say said:
They were given to schools, you must have a short memory if you cant remember huge blocks of kids in the ground in the early to mid 2000's. Can't recall if it was Short or Drumaville who put the block on it. The Mags feasted out on it for years before handing 10000 free season tickets out themselves. Of course it wasn't publicised by Murray but anyone connected with ticketing at the club at the time would verify it. My wife was at Sunderland Uni at the time and they got tickets for a fiver, they offered them out to all the students at that price.
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Mags speak shit. They were never free. They were £20-25 for an adult and a child.
Startrite said:
My daughter's school in South Tyneside occasionally had discounted tickets, but I never came across free tickets.
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It's because it didn't happen.
 
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jimb said:
Imagine if Wembley was 45 minutes drive from Sunderland like it is from Wycombe?. reckon we'd would be pushing on 70k for finals.
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Especially today,
sure you can say everyone makes an effort for Wembley, but even 5 or 6 yrs ago it was more affordable, everythings through the roof now.
Travel, tickets, petrol, folk using food banks on a level unheard of.
I bet theres are fans on this forum keeping schtum cos they simply cannot afford it, and are too embarrassed to admit it.
£7 for a hotdog, summat similar for a pint.
about £16 Gillingham to London..Sunderland owt between £100 and £150 ..Wycombe?..about £20 I know a few who simply can't afford to even to go to Hillsborough regularly, and pick their games lately
Its a sad state,
 
Joe Public said:
Our core support has increased as we got worse, I remember many games in the championship being 25-26k, now it’s over 30k, and at roker we would be lucky to get 18k for a normal League game in 2nd tier.

It begs the question, why? Why do we go? People down south seem to believe it’s cos there’s fuck all else to do up here and that may be true to an extent, but I’d say what else would you rather be doing on a Saturday afternoon?

It’s not always enjoyable when we are absolutely shit, but would I rather be in the metro centre or visiting f***ing farms or building flat pack furniture or some shit the wife would have me doing otherwise? Bollocks. I’m out, it’s a given, not booked in the f***ing diary, it’s 12pm giz a lift to the harbour love and pick the lads up in the way. And now my son is in to it as well (even my daughter has been twice this year and loved it!) I don’t even have to feel guilty about f***ing them off every Saturday, result.

Pints, socialising, walk to the ground as the crowd grows around you, burgers, sweets for the nipper, queues, noise, hello mate how you doing to the same people I’ve bumped in to for 32 years and know nothing about except they do the same stuff as me every game do they are my mate. Click click in, piss, shit lager, seats, big green pitch, who is starting today, Prokofiev, haway me bonny bonny bairns!

I love it, every second of it, we get beat I’m pissed off, but count the days down to the next one. It’s infectious. To see my boy suck it all up like a sponge now makes me so happy and brings back memories of when I started going, when John Kay was me hero and my sister had a glossy photo of Thomas hauser stuck to her bedroom wall. He absorbs it all, kicks every ball, asks a million questions a minute, everything I wanted. What times he has in front of him going to away games with his pals, I hope he gets as much out of it as I have over the last 32 seasons, and sees us win something along the way. Imagine.
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Great Post, and you're right - what else would you do on a Saturday afternoon?
 
The support of just about every club in the country at all leveks in the game is increasing at an astonishing rate as popularity in football hits an an all time high.
Society has changed. Gathering in large numbers be it a football match, music festival or 5k Park run is a modern phenomenon and all about the social side and not necessarily about the actual event itself.
Ipswich who have had a disappointing season in our league have averaged 22000 !
Look at the huge numbers of away fans coming to the SOL from places as far afield as Plymouth and the impressive midweek turnout from Rotherham .
There is no mystery as to our attendances.
If we had really grabbed this division by the throat, gone top and stayed top throughout the season the SOL would have been full every week.
 
UpTheDuff said:
Just one thought. Your tickets, the same price as ours, are expensive by L1 standards but if in the Premier League they went up to £40+ would you still get the same numbers attending?
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We are just waiting on being levelled up with the South. Then we should be okay.

But as it stands, Sunderland and County Durham are generally deprived areas. So if they whacked the prices up, fewer people would go.

If we were in the PL, other revenue dwarfs gate receipts. If we ever get back, the owners would be best advised to keep things affordable.
 
KCB1998 said:
I think the OP meant Champions league - are you really doubting that 49k would be enough for us if we were in the CL every year. It would need another 15-20k
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I've already said that goes without saying, we'd need a 60k capacity if that ever happened, its obvious and wouldn't need pointing out. I took playing at the highest level to mean in the top flight which to me is the highest level in English football. European competition ir Champoons League wasn't mentioned by the OP, and is a total pipe dream, the PL isn't.
 
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