SAINTS should comfortably be a mid-table Premier League team next season – at least in terms of their support.

The bumper crowds at the back end of the latest promotion winning campaign saw Saints finish in second place behind West Ham in the highest average attendances chart of the Championship season.

And their average of 26,419 per game would see them 12th in the current Premier League averages.

Crowds have shot up 17 per cent at St Mary’s this season, following on from last term’s 22,160 average in League 1.

The last four attendances at the ground this season were all above the 30,000 mark.

Even established teams such as Fulham, West Brom, Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan trail in the wake of Saints’ loyal fan base.

Promoted sides QPR and Swansea are also well down on the St Mary’s averages.

Saints are sure to see their attendances boosted even further on their return to the top flight after a seven-year absence.

Whilst it is unlikely they can regularly repeat the St Mary’s record 32,363 crowd they had for the final game of the campaign against Coventry, due to the added segregation of having an often full ten per cent allocation going to the away team, they should sell out for the majority of games.

Previously in their Premier League campaigns it was generally only the midweek matches, when people struggle to get there from work, that attendances dropped from capacity.

Assuming Saints were averaging anywhere between 28,000-32,000 next season, that would be enough to see them in 11th place in the Premier League stats based on this campaign.

It again underlines how well Saints have been supported during this season and the kind of crowds they can expect next term.

Championship

West Ham 30,923 Saints 26,419 Derby 26,020 Leeds 23,379 Leicester 23,036 Cardiff 22,100 Nottm Forest 21,969 Brighton 20,029 Reading 19,219 Birmingham 19,126 Hull 18,790 Ipswich 18,266 Middlesbrough 17,557 Crystal Palace 15,219 Coventry 15,118 Portsmouth 15,044 Burnley 14,048 Bristol City 13,907 Blackpool 12,764 Watford 12,710 Millwall 11,484 Barnsley 10,331 Doncaster 9,341 Peterborough 9,110

Premier League

Man United 75,381 Arsenal 59,995 Newcastle United 50,039 Man City 46,991 Liverpool 44,449 Chelsea 41,519 Sunderland 38,686 Tottenham 36,013 Aston Villa 33,851 Everton 33,068 Stoke City 27,194 Norwich City 26,539 Wolves 25,564 Fulham 25,271 West Brom 24,823 Bolton 23,559 Blackburn 22,351 Swansea 19,909 Wigan 18,449 QPR 17,294