How Bristol City's home and away attendances compare to the likes of Cardiff City and Sunderland
City's improved form at Ashton Gate was reflected in the increased number of ticket sales across the country
Bristol Live:
SPORT
By Richard Forrester
14th MAY 2023
Bristol City's support across the season both home and away has been hugely commendable.
Over 14,000 season tickets were sold at the beginning of the season and the club hopes they can improve on that figure heading into the new campaign with plenty of optimism looking forward.
Those days of dismal home defeats are now a thing of the past and Nigel Pearson is slowly turning Ashton Gate into a place where opponents no longer see a trip to BS3 as an easy place to go. In the second half of the season, following the defeat against West Brom on Boxing Day, City went nine games unbeaten on home soil in the league before the defeat against champions Burnley in the penultimate game of the season.
The highest home attendance of the season unsurprisingly came against Manchester City in the FA Cup where 25,713 fans were in attendance to witness the FA Cup defeat. In the league, the opening home game against Sunderland saw 24,543 packed inside the Gate.
There's an aura and a feeling around the club that they are on the path of something special and that can be reflected in the average home attendance in comparison to the rest of the Championship. According to Transfermarkt, Ashton Gate averaged 20,334 supporters over the course of the campaign - a 1,301 increase on last season.
That figure puts them seventh in the average highest number of spectators despite having the 10th biggest stadium. Sunderland unsurprisingly top the charts with 38,183 ahead of Sheffield United with 28,694.
The other sides have average higher attendance over City include Norwich, Middlesbrough, West Brom and Stoke City. Away from home., City supporters have had to endure some grueling trips across the country to cheer on the side.
There were some standout memories including the 3-2 victory at Blackburn earlier in the season, Nahki Wells' penalty in the 1-1 draw at Sunderland, and of course, Monday's win over QPR. The highs were also met with lows such as the loss at Cardiff while the visit to Swansea was also one to erase from the memory.
The 72 have crunched the numbers to determine where City rank with their average away support. The Robins sit in 16th, with an average following of 1,144 over 23 matches. It's worth noting that only five other clubs had more miles to travel across the season with the club's average hitting 160 each game.
Sunderland, once again, top the away support charts with an average of 2650 ahead of Burnley and Middlesbrough. City's highest away support came against Cardiff with 3,229 supporters making the trip to the Severnside rivals.
With City expected to push closer to the play-offs next season, numbers and season ticket sales are expected to be strong once again. There's around a 3 per cent increase in most adult tickets but a price freeze for all fans under the age of 19. As of April 25, over 10,000 fans had either purchased or renewed their season tickets.
Championship average home attendance 2022/23:
1. Sunderland 38,183
2. Sheffield United 28,694
3. Norwich 26,532
4. Middlesbrough 26,012
5. West Brom 23,072
6. Stoke City 20,570
7. Bristol City 20,334
8. Coventry 19,950
9. Burnley 19,776
10. Watford 19,133
11. Cardiff 19,020
12. Huddersfield 19,002
13. Hull City 17,975
14. Swansea 16,821
15. Preston 15,858
16. Birmingham 15,223
17. QPR 14,791
18. Millwall 14,833
19. Blackburn Rovers 14,639
20. Reading 13,543
21. Wigan 12,070
22. Blackpool 11,621
23. Rotherham United 10,515
24. Luton 9,854
*figures courtesy of Transfermarkt
Championship average away attendance 2022/23:
1. Sunderland 2,650
2. Burnley 2,213
3. Middlesbrough 2,073
4. Sheffield United 2,057
5. Coventry City 2,043
6. Birmingham City 1,981
7. Norwich City 1,688
8. West Brom 1,673
9. Stoke City 1,649
10. Blackburn Rovers 1,596
11. Preston 1,546
12. Watford 1,361
13. Hull City 1,319
14. QPR 1,284
15. Luton Town 1,279
16. Bristol City 1,144
17. Wigan 1,123
18. Cardiff 1,102
19. Huddersfield Town 1,083
20. Rotherham United 1,077
21. Swansea City 1,075
22. Blackpool 1,066
23. Millwall 1,058
24. Reading 894
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