Bristol City Third Best Supported Team In The Country,,,,,,,,,1958/59

[fanjita]

I thought this was an interesting bit of trivia,, taken from today's Daily Telegraph;

"There was a time when Bristol City were the third best supported club in the country. In 1958/59 Bristol City then in the old division two boasted an average home attendance of 43,335 - bettered only by Manchester United and Arsenal, the latter only by virtue of a few hundred"

[redysteadygo1]

Sounds like a bit of poor research. When I attended the average gate was probably in the 20Ks.

Think the figure that has been reported was the attendance for FA Cup versus Blackpool with the great Stanley Mathews facing one of our old favourites Mike Thresher.

[CodeRed]

Sounds like a bit of poor research. When I attended the average gate was probably in the 20Ks.

Think the figure that has been reported was the attendance for FA Cup versus Blackpool with the great Stanley Mathews facing one of our old favourites Mike Thresher.

Yes I saw that in the Telegraph this morning

Poor research & lazy journalism

43,335 is the record attendance set back in 1935 v. Preston FA Cup 5th round.........don't know how the reporter

managed to equate that to a 1958 season average

[Forza Revolution]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/league-one/10359093/Bristol-City-fail-to-exorcise-ghosts-at-Port-Vale.html

Here's the link

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Yes I saw that in the Telegraph this morning

Poor research & lazy journalism

43,335 is the record attendance set back in 1935 v. Preston FA Cup 5th round.........don't know how the reporter

managed to equate that to a 1958 season average

As long as they don't say my father hated Great Britain, I they may get away with this piece of totally unresearched lump of pooh

[fanjita]

Must admit I didn't check on what was written, I was just quoting the report.

[Aizoon]

Sounds like a bit of poor research. When I attended the average gate was probably in the 20Ks.

Think the figure that has been reported was the attendance for FA Cup versus Blackpool with the great Stanley Mathews facing one of our old favourites Mike Thresher.

And being marked out of the game by him. Apparently Thresh asked the great man for his autograph after the game, too

[The Right Honourable Les Q]

That wasn't me counting back then. Can't blame me!

[Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan]

Must admit I didn't check on what was written, I was just quoting the report.

Most people who read that artical won't check the facts. If people want to think we were the 3rd best supported club in the country in 58/59 then I don't really care.

[ashton_fan]

In the league that season our top home gate was 32,000 against Fulham, away it was 34,000 at Anfield - most home gates were in the low 20's

[BigTone]

I thought this was an interesting bit of trivia,, taken from today's Daily Telegraph;

"There was a time when Bristol City were the third best supported club in the country. In 1958/59 Bristol City then in the old division two boasted an average home attendance of 43,335 - bettered only by Manchester United and Arsenal, the latter only by virtue of a few hundred"

I was born in 1959 so make that 43,335 + 1

[BigTone]

Yes I saw that in the Telegraph this morning

Poor research & lazy journalism

43,335 is the record attendance set back in 1935 v. Preston FA Cup 5th round.........don't know how the reporter

managed to equate that to a 1958 season average

I was too young to know the difference..........................BITTY MUMMY !

[22A]

And being marked out of the game by him. Apparently Thresh asked the great man for his autograph after the game, too

That's right. My Dad reckons Sir Stan had never even seen Thresher before, whereas Mike knew all about Matthews.

[The Right Honourable Les Q]

It's official: Bristol City, a Big Club, 1958/ 59.

Nice try, SOD, but the wonky stats speak for themselves

[Fiale]

Interesting article..

City arrived in Burslem as the only team in League One without a win to their name, albeit with a reputation as a team who has outplayed most opponents this season, only to gift them goals. They left Vale Park with that reputation intact.

City dominated a Port Vale team who, under the tutelage of Micky Adams, have adapted well to life in League One. Recent wins against Wolves and Coventry City which elevated Vale into the top half of the table has prompted the entry of play-offs into vocabulary of their fans. Following this entertaining match, however, the realists among the Vale faithful may be given to more sober assessment.

Driven forward by the intelligent play of Bobby Reid, the power of Marlon Pack and the runs of Scott Wagstaff, from the opening minutes Vale were subjected to a torrid afternoon. The home side never came to terms with Jay Emmanuel Thomas, who fulfilled a role in the hole behind Sam Baldock with aplomb. It was the former Arsenal man who set-up Citys goal in the 54th minute

[Nogbad the Bad]

City's average attendance in 58/59 was 22,506

Five years later, after relegation in 1960, it had dropped to 9,912.

[stephenkibby.]

our record league home attendance was 39,583,oct 55. against the gas!!

we also had a gate of 28,991 for a friendly against aresnal in 1954!

now i know there was a bigger crowd for the liverpool game in 77 (unnoffical) but i wonder how many were in for the gash game!(ended 1-1)

[Sleepy1968]

I looked up our historical averages on one of the stats sites a few weeks back. Our highest season average was sometime in the mid/late 50's and that was under 30k.

current crowds are probably about our average for where we are in the ladder. Having said that I would have thought the population of our catchment area has goen up by more than the 30% or so that the uk pop has risen since the mid 50's. So maybe are crowds are falling....

[Nogbad the Bad]

I looked up our historical averages on one of the stats sites a few weeks back. Our highest season average was sometime in the mid/late 50's and that was under 30k.

current crowds are probably about our average for where we are in the ladder. Having said that I would have thought the population of our catchment area has goen up by more than the 30% or so that the uk pop has risen since the mid 50's. So maybe are crowds are falling....

The highest average we've ever had since records began - 1906 - was 26,575 in 1956. The lowest was 4,799 in 1983.

Decades ago it seems City's crowds could fluctuate hugely from match to match depending on opponents, results, even a new signing. Even in my time I remember the joint signings of Ernie Hunt and Paul Cheesley adding thousands to the next gate.

The population of Bristol may have gone up in recent decades but that figure is deceptive when it comes to local football fans because the percentage of born and bred Bristolians in the population may now be at it's lowest level ever, and certainly presumably lower than City's heyday of crowds, in the old 2nd division, in the 50's.

[Aizoon]

It's all deceptive because of the much higher proportion of season holders who are deemed to be there when they manifestly are not.

[Ian M]

It's official: Bristol City, a Big Club, 1958/ 59.

Nice try, SOD, but the wonky stats speak for themselves

SOD says we are still a Big Club, we're just not a Big Team yet. That'll have to wait until the culmination of the 5 10 year plan when we will be crowned Kings of Europe!

[The Right Honourable Les Q]

SOD says we are still a Big Club, we're just not a Big Team yet. That'll have to wait until the culmination of the 5 10 year plan when we will be crowned Kings of Europe!

It's a critical distinction, which I overlooked. Well spotted, sir!