Saints fifth best supported away side in 11/12 (From Daily Echo)
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Saints fifth best supported away side in 2011-12 season in Football League
3:14pm Thursday 26th July 2012 in Saints News
By Simon Carter
, Sports Editor
Saints fans
SAINTS were roared on into the Premier League by the fifth largest away following in the Football League last season.
The amount of fans travelling to back Nigel Adkins and his players in away Championship matches was on average a storming 2,311 per game.
That was up 55 per cent on Saints’ average away following in the League 1 promotion season of 2010/11.
Only Leeds and West Ham could boast a bigger average away following in statistics just released by the Football League.
The other two clubs with a bigger following than Saints were League 1 pair Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United.
Saints’ away following was almost double that of arch rivals Portsmouth.
Pompey’s 1,166 average, though, was an increase on their 2010/11 figure – by just one fan!
The amount of visiting fans at St Mary’s last season, meanwhile, was virtually doubled on 2010/11.
On average, there were 1,568 away supporters for league games at Saints’ stadium last season – a rise of 92 per cent.
That was no real surprise, as many Championship sides are far better supported than League 1 clubs.
The biggest percentage ratio increase was reported by Brighton, whose promotion and move to the Amex Stadium saw an average away following of 1,859 – up 486 per cent on the cramped Withdean.
Stevenage (237%), Peterborough (207%) and Torquay (204%) also saw huge increases in away followings.
LARGEST AVERAGE TRAVELLING SUPPORTS LAST SEASON IN THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE
| Leeds United . . . . . . . | 2,896 |
| West Ham United . . . | 2,792 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 2,436 |
| Sheffield United . . . . . | 2,344 |
| SAINTS . . . . . . . . . . | 2,311 |
| Leicester City . . . . . . | 1,815 |
| Brighton . . . . . . . . . | 1,609 |
| Nottingham Forest . . | 1,557 |
| Birmingham City . . . | 1,489 |
| Middlesbrough . . . . . | 1,443 |
BIGGEST PERCENTAGE INCREASES IN TRAVELLING SUPPORTS
| + | % | |
| Sheff Utd | 2,344 | 140% |
| Swindon | 893 | 76% |
| Torquay | 432 | 74% |
| Cheltenham | 308 | 72% |
| Pboro | 1,091 | 67% |
| Southend | 533 | 64% |
| Carlisle | 761 | 62% |
| Charlton | 1,076 | 59% |
| Preston | 870 | 58% |
| Tranmere | 428 | 58% |
| Saints | 2,311 | 55% |
Others
| Pompey | 1,166 | 0% |
| Brighton | 1,609 | 15% |
| Cherries | 464 | -39% |
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