4:21pm Wednesday 6th January 2010
By Simon Carter
SAINTS will be hoping for another bumper St Mary’s crowd this weekend after attracting one of the highest third division attendances of the last 38 years on Boxing Day.
A remarkable 30,890 packed into the stadium to witness the 3-1 win over Exeter recently.
The Daily Echo can reveal that only four clubs have managed a higher attendance in the third tier since the start of the 1972/73 campaign.
They are the two Sheffield clubs – whose massive crowd was for the cross-city derbies in the same season – Leeds and Manchester City.
Saints’ Boxing Day crowd was the 14th largest in the third tier since August 1972.
FA Cup heroes Leeds have had six League One crowds higher than Saints had against Exeter – the largest of which was the 38,256 who watched them beat Gillingham in May 2008.
Their second largest attendance was the 36,723 for the Yorkshire derby with fellow promotion hopefuls Huddersfield last month.
And it’s against Huddersfield this Saturday that Saints are again hoping to pack the fans in to potentially give Alan Pardew a financial boost in the crucial January transfer window.
The highest ever third division crowd remains – and certainly almost will – the staggering 49,309 who saw Sheffield Wednesday thrash cross city rivals United 4-0 on Boxing Day, 1979.
The Owls only had 11,530 for their previous home game, and only 13,287 for the one immediately after.
Just as remarkably, the return game at Bramall Lane in April 1980 was watched by another 45,000 plus gate!
A crowd of 45,156 was some 25,000 higher than any other third division attendance at the ground that season.
Wednesday also packed in 32,734 for the last game of that promotion winning season, against Carlisle at Hillsborough.
Aston Villa had held the record for the highest ever third tier crowd – 48,110 against Bournemouth in 1972.
Villa do hold the record for the highest third division average in the last 40 years.
They averaged 31,952 during their promotion winning season in 1971/72.
Among their crowds were 48,110 v Bournemouth, 45,953 v Walsall, 45,567 v Chesterfield, 41,518 v Bristol Rovers and 37,582 v Torquay.
Away from home, their game at Notts County was watched by 34,208 while 20,305 were at Bournemouth.
Prior to that, Notts County averaged over 34,000 when they won promotion from the third division south in 1949/50.
Their highest crowd was 46,000 against city rivals Forest.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/trade_directory/