May 19 – The Premier League may have finished slightly later than planned with the forced shift of Manchester United’s final home game against Bournemouth to Tuesday night because of security concerns, but fans set a record attendance across the country for the Sunday 3pm kick offs.
All 10 home clubs reported capacities of more than 99%, while the average for the final round of fixtures was 97.92, a season high and beating the opening game of the season.
Of more than 400,000 tickets available, just 8,269 were reported as unfilled seats. Nine teams filled over 95% of their capacity, five of them filled over 99%. Only Everton showed poor fan form with 91.22% capacity and 3,350 unfilled seats – the club sacked their manager Roberto Martinez the following day.
Pride of place at the top of the attendance capacity table once again went to Swansea City who sold more seats than are in the official capacity of the stadium – 134 more (though this most likely takes into account resold tickets via the ticket exchange).
Fan and team performance of the week goes to relegated Newcastle United who saved their best until last. The club has often failed to break the 90% capacity mark this season, but packed in a record 99.58% capacity crowd for their storming 5-1 win over Spurs who lost their second place league finish to North London rivals Arsenal.
The last three weeks of the Premier League season saw record highs across the league even though results would have no real effect on league position. This contrasts quite dramatically with the Spain’s La Liga – repeatedly trumpeted by its president and executives as the best league on the world – which closed its final day of the season (with the championship still at stake) with less than 80% average capacity across its clubs.
The English clubs may not know how to win in Europe, but they do know how to put on a show at home. Something the Spanish might want to pay attention if their dash for the international broadcast cash they desperately desire is going to become a reality.
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