Biggest away following ever (bar finals)?

[Blagdon red]

Sorry if this has already been established and I missed it, but was today the biggest away following in the club's history for any game other than a final?

[Alan Dicks]

Think we took 17k to Coventry in 77

[RedRock]

1 minute ago, Blagdon red said:

Sorry if this has already been established and I missed it, but was today the biggest away following in the club's history for any game other than a final?

No. Coventry away we had well in excess of 18,000 - possibly approaching 20,000.

Think we took loads to Forest in the League Cup SF too.

Always took 20,000 to Eastville, with another 40,000 outside in the car park for any Gas looking in to this thread. 

 

[Blagdon red]

Is the Coventry figure documented or just folklore?

I did wonder if that game might be the record.

[42nite]

8 minutes ago, Blagdon red said:

Is the Coventry figure documented or just folklore?

I did wonder if that game might be the record.

I don't know about any of that.

But I do know it was amazing!

 

 

[Rocking Red Cyril]

25 minutes ago, Blagdon red said:

Is the Coventry figure documented or just folklore?

I did wonder if that game might be the record.

Not sure it easy to put exact figure on as was all pay on the day I seem to remember. But was great nite and one hell of a lot of thus there

[sglosbcfc]

I didn't start watching City until the early 80s, but if we really did take 18,000 to Coventry that is amazing. How did they all get there? There must not have been a train or coach left in the South west, ha.

[Blagdon red]

16 minutes ago, sglosbcfc said:

I didn't start watching City until the early 80s, but if we really did take 18,000 to Coventry that is amazing. How did they all get there? There must not have been a train or coach left in the South west, ha.

I was abroad at the time, so missed the game. That font of all knowledge (ahem!) Wikipedia claims that the away following was approximately 10k. The attendance is quoted as having been 36,892, so 10k sounds more realistic than 50% of the crowd.

The reality is that there is probably no accurate record, as we paid cash at the turnstiles in those days.

Today will have undoubtedly been the highest in the fully ticketed / all-seater era.

[slartibartfast]

1 hour ago, RedRock said:

No. Coventry away we had well in excess of 18,000 - possibly approaching 20,000.

Think we took loads to Forest in the League Cup SF too.

Always took 20,000 to Eastville, with another 40,000 outside in the car park for any Gas looking in to this thread. 

 

No, our other 40000 were in the Tote !

[slartibartfast]

12 minutes ago, Blagdon red said:

I was abroad at the time, so missed the game. That font of all knowledge (ahem!) Wikipedia claims that the away following was approximately 10k. The attendance is quoted as having been 36,892, so 10k sounds more realistic than 50% of the crowd.

The reality is that there is probably no accurate record, as we paid cash at the turnstiles in those days.

Today will have undoubtedly been the highest in the fully ticketed / all-seater era.

Deffo over 15k, we filled the away end (under the stand), filled the stand opposite the main stand plus loads in that enclosure (like me) and another huge mob in the open end !

[slartibartfast]

49 minutes ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Not sure it easy to put exact figure on as was all pay on the day I seem to remember. But was great nite and one hell of a lot of thus there

The EP at the time said over 15000, and that was the general perceived wisdom .

There was also over 10k at Spurs in 67 ,5th round .

Edited January 8 by slartibartfast

[ashton_fan]

We took a load to Leeds in the '74 cup match, and the '76 league opener at Highbury, don't know the exact figures but def over 9000 at Arsenal

[REDOXO]

3 hours ago, Alan Dicks said:

Think we took 17k to Coventry in 77

Officially not so much!

2 hours ago, slartibartfast said:

No, our other 40000 were in the Tote !

After the padlock was opened!

[Port Said Red]

6 hours ago, RedRock said:

No. Coventry away we had well in excess of 18,000 - possibly approaching 20,000.

Think we took loads to Forest in the League Cup SF too.

Always took 20,000 to Eastville, with another 40,000 outside in the car park for any Gas looking in to this thread. 

The FA Cup game before that was a great following too. We got there quite early, and in those days their away end was segmented by fencing. We were in the first "wedge" but as people arrived they kept opening up wedge after wedge until it was full.

When Paul Mardon scored, we realised that the enclosures on both sides were about half City supporters too.

[fisherrich]

Think Forest in the Cup was around 9000, certainly a hell of a lot there. What a night.

[The Bard]

9 hours ago, Blagdon red said:

Is the Coventry figure documented or just folklore?

I did wonder if that game might be the record.

Was it all ticket?

[tin]

8 hours ago, Blagdon red said:

Today will have undoubtedly been the highest in the fully ticketed / all-seater era.

Not sure about that. We took around 10k to Anfield nearly 30 years ago. 

And how many did we have at the Etihad a few years ago? We had both tiers that night, so must’ve been around 8k at a guess?

Edited January 8 by tin

[Bazooka Joe]

I’ve been told on many occasions that we took 10,000 to a cup tie at Tottenham in 1967, which we lost 2-0.

[Bristol Rob]

We all know it's never a true away figure until you add in those locked out and forced to watch from the car-park.

It's what they do. Or claim to do. 

[Bristol Oil Services]

11 minutes ago, tin said:

Not sure about that. We took around 10k to Anfield nearly 30 years ago. 

And how many did we have at the Etihad a few years ago? We had both tiers that night, so must’ve been around 8k at a guess?

Anfield 94 wasn't that many but what I do remember very clearly, even now three decades on, rather pathetically perhaps on my part, was that we took more than Rovers who went there about 2 years before, and the evidence for this, apart from Evening Post reports of tickets sold (I think they sold seven thousand and something, whereas we sold over eight thousand), is that we had about one third of the stand opposite the cameras (where I was sat) along the side as well as the Anfield Road end. And you can clearly see that their following wasn't as many as we took. 

And what I also remember is that they lost at Anfield, and we won at Anfield. 

[italian dave]

I was at Coventry. It wasn’t all ticket @The Bard. It wasn’t documented @Blagdon red. In those days all ticket wasn’t a thing: you just turned up and paid at the turnstile. 
I’m guessing that any ‘official’ figures’ were about the away end capacity. But there were City fans all over the ground, and in big numbers.

That EP estimate of 15000 is probably as good as any, but there’s no way anyone will ever know the true figure. 

PS: and, on this occasion, there genuinely were lots locked out

Edited January 8 by italian dave

[Bristol Oil Services]

10 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Anfield 94 wasn't that many but what I do remember very clearly, even now three decades on, rather pathetically perhaps on my part, was that we took more than Rovers who went there about 2 years before, and the evidence for this, apart from Evening Post reports of tickets sold (I think they sold seven thousand and something, whereas we sold over eight thousand), is that we had about one third of the stand opposite the cameras (where I was sat) along the side as well as the Anfield Road end. And you can clearly see that their following wasn't as many as we took. 

And what I also remember is that they lost at Anfield, and we won at Anfield. 

Liverpool v Bristol Rovers 1992 attendance: 30,142.

Liverpool v Bristol City 1994 attendance: 36,720.

 

[Sheltons Army]

39 minutes ago, tin said:

Not sure about that. We took around 10k to Anfield nearly 30 years ago. 

And how many did we have at the Etihad a few years ago? We had both tiers that night, so must’ve been around 8k at a guess?

About 7 / 7.5k , albeit our max allocation

[CodeRed]

52 minutes ago, The Bard said:

Was it all ticket?

No tickets back then, terraces and pay on the night. I decided to go on the morning of the game and left work at lunchtime, picked up my partner and drove up. There were already huge queues at the turnstiles at 5.30. We just went in the part of the ground that had the smaller queues but it still took over an hour to get in.  City completely filled the large open terrace behind the goal, the other end was divided in two with a fence down the middle and City filled one side, we were in a side stand with a terrace in front and this was roughly 50/50 City/Cov - the only part of the ground with no City fans was their smallish main stand opposite presumably because that's where their ST holders sat.

Easily 15,000 City, more like half of the 36k official attendance.  

[1960maaan]

9 hours ago, sglosbcfc said:

I didn't start watching City until the early 80s, but if we really did take 18,000 to Coventry that is amazing. How did they all get there? There must not have been a train or coach left in the South west, ha.

I seem to remember they were trying to get coaches from all surrounding areas as all local ones were booked.

I was at college and we got the early later ones, as in the after 3:30pm , there were some that left later taking those finishing work or whatever . I walked out of college at break and our coach only just got there in time.
We walked in as we kicked off . We were in the open end and the other end, which I guessed was 'their' end , was separated down the middle . City on the left Cov on the right, the rest of the ground was mixed in though mainly City by us. 
The Motorway was like a carpark on the way back absolutely rammed. I'd say 15k is a reasonable estimate but it could have been anything from 11k up would be hard to disprove. 

[cidered abroad]

10 hours ago, Blagdon red said:

Is the Coventry figure documented or just folklore?

I did wonder if that game might be the record.

@Blagdon red

I was there. At least 15,000 !

I also wonder how many were at WBA the previous season. At least 10,000 is my guess.

Edited January 8 by cidered abroad

[RedRock]

I can remember an ‘official’ 17,500+ figure announced.

Was on one of the dozens of late coaches, so was in the large contingent in their open end. The faces of the Coventry ‘mob’ as they looked through the railings when they saw us coming up the road behind their stand  …. think they were staggered by the turnout  … they soon melted away into their crowd never to be seen or heard.

At the time, the stadium had the partial ‘Jimmy Hill’ treatment. Oddly, their ‘home end’ was divided 50/50 home and away and our side was packed. We had loads in the seating to our right and also at least a couple of thousand in their open end. 

Don’t think we will ever see Crown Court sessions ending early and schools closing to allow football supporters to travel to an away game! Truly a one-off special. 
 

[RedRock]

4 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

The FA Cup game before that was a great following too. We got there quite early, and in those days their away end was segmented by fencing. We were in the first "wedge" but as people arrived they kept opening up wedge after wedge until it was full.

When Paul Mardon scored, we realised that the enclosures on both sides were about half City supporters too.

Yep. Went to both.

I think we were the first Club to have the entire bank of seating running along the side of the pitch, as well as 50% of the open terrace behind the goal. Can remember going into work the following day in the Midlands to be greeted by Villa and Blues supporters in awe of our following! 

Good days.
 

 

[frenchred]

14 hours ago, Alan Dicks said:

Think we took 17k to Coventry in 77

If everyone was there who now say they were it must have been about 170k!

[GrahamC]

5 hours ago, italian dave said:

I was at Coventry. It wasn’t all ticket @The Bard. It wasn’t documented @Blagdon red. In those days all ticket wasn’t a thing: you just turned up and paid at the turnstile. 
I’m guessing that any ‘official’ figures’ were about the away end capacity. But there were City fans all over the ground, and in big numbers.

That EP estimate of 15000 is probably as good as any, but there’s no way anyone will ever know the true figure. 

PS: and, on this occasion, there genuinely were lots locked out

Beat me to it, was about to say the same.

Football was run very differently then, not unusual either to go to a ground that had no actual designated area for away fans, all ticket games were almost unheard of & prices were incredibly cheap even taking into account inflation.

I was also at Forest & think yesterday’s following was greater, I reckon we had about 7k there.