We are the loyalest football supporters? Not in the Europa League apparently
Posted on March 6th, 2013 | 15 Comments |
So goes the terrace chant much favoured by we Newcastle United fans. However as you can see below, the attendance figures for this season’s Europa League could be calling that proud boast into question.
As you can see below, Newcastle United’s home attendance figures for Europa League games have hardly been impressive, with an average of only 24,154 Geordies attending St James’ Park for the games. This makes us the least supported of any of the English clubs competing in this years competition, and only the sixth most supported of the teams in the last sixteen.
In the table below I have only included the attendances of the remaining 16 teams, as there would be 80 teams if I’d included all who have competed in the competition! This means that Liverpool aren’t in there as they were knocked out by Zenit St Petersburg in the last round, but they were one of the most well supported teams with an average of 40,929 shifty looking scallies showing up at Anfield for their five games, with the crafty Cockney’s of Chelsea and Tottenham also beating Newcastle in the teraace table with an average of 38,642 and 36,240 respectively. It should be added that Chelsea have only competed in one game in the more recent stages which might affect things somewhat, though this isnt the case with ‘Spurs and Liverpool.
So as you can see, Newcastle are only upper mid table mediocrities in the last 16 terrace table, with the mighty Steaua Bucharest topping it. They got with an average of no less than 45,086 Romanian ian bums on seats for their Europa League games.
Over the whole competition however, it was the Ajax who drew the biggest crowd of all, with 51,493 crazschy cloggies turning up at the Amsterdam Arena (the venue for the final) for their solitary home game after falling out of the Champions League. It was a 2-0 victory over the similarly well supported Bucharest, though Steaua had their revenge, adminstering a 6-2 beating to the Dutchmen in the return leg to go through handsomely.
Europa League Attendances (Last 16), 2012-13. | ||||||
No. | Club | Games | Stadium | St Cap | Av Att | % Cap |
1. | Steaua Bucharest | 4 | National Arena | 52,347 | 45,086 | 86.1% |
2. | Benfica | 1 | Estádio da Luz | 65,647 | 40,000 | 60.9% |
3. | Chelsea | 1 | Stamford Bridge | 41,837 | 38,642 | 92.4 % |
4. | Fenerbahçe | 4 | Şükrü Saraçoğlu | 50,509 | 29,821 | 59.0% |
5. | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | White Hart Lane | 36,240 | 29,109 | 80.3% |
6. | Newcastle United | 5 | St James’ Park | 52,404 | 24,154 | 46.1% |
7. | Internazionale | 5 | Giuseppe Meazza / San Siro | 80,018 | 21,873 | 27.3% |
8. | Zenit St Petersburg | 1 | Petrovsky Stadium | 21,570 | 21,000 | 97.4% |
9. | Vfb Stuttgart | 5 | Mercedes-Benz Arena | 54,812 | 16,661 | 30.4% |
10. | Lazio | 5 | Stadio Olimpico di Roma | 70,634 | 16,141 | 22.9% |
11. | Girondins de Bordeaux | 5 | Stade Jacques-Chaban-Delmas | 34,462 | 16,136 | 46.8% |
12. | Levante | 5 | Ciutat de Valencia | 25,534 | 15,080 | 59.1% |
13. | Basel 1893 | 4 | St.Jakob-Park | 38,512 | 12,662 | 32.9 % |
14. | Viktoria Plzeň | 5 | Doosan Arena | 11,700 | 11,214 | 95.8% |
15. | Rubin Kazan | 4 | Zentralstadion Kazan | 28,500 | 9,735 | 34.2% |
16. | *Anzhi Makhachkala | 5 | N/A | N/A | 8917 | N/A |
*Anzhi Makhachkala are not allowed to play games at their own stadium in Dagestan due to security concerns. This means they have had to play their games over a thousand miles away at three stadiums in the Moscow area. |
A fuller table including nearly all of the 80 competing teams. Newcastle United are 20th in that one.
Poll
Maybes we should have taken the competition more seriously,then the fans might have too.Should be going all out to win,full first team,if not don’t talk about wanting to “get into Europe”
It’s not a burden as a lot of managers say,it’s a rare (for us) opportunity to win a European title.
Still not too late tho if we can nick it tomorrow \o/ HWTL.