All-seater attendance records

[Tottenham Hertspur]

As far as I am aware there are no football annuals or internet sites that tabulate the highest all-seater attendances for each club ground, so I have attempted to compile one below.

Can anyone spot any mistakes - deliberate or otherwise? By my reckoning there are currently 60 all-seater League grounds in England and Wales. Have I missed any out?

If you think your club's record all-seater attendance is different to the one given I would appreciate your help in correcting it.

-8909 - AFC Bournemouth: v Queens Park Rangers, 24 January 2004
38419 - Arsenal: v Leicester City, May 15th, 2004
42632 - Aston Villa: v Manchester United, August 26th 2001
22650 - Barnsley: v Manchester City, March 11th 2000
29588 - Birmingham City: v Arsenal, November 22nd 2003
30895 - Blackburn Rovers: v Liverpool, February 24th 1996
28353 - Bolton Wanderers: v Leicester City, December 28th, 2003
22057 - Bradford City: v Liverpool, May 1st, 2001
-6928 - Brighton & Hove Albion: v Sheffield Wednesday, April 21st 2003
20007 - Bristol City: v Bristol Rovers, January 16th, 1996

22310 - Burnley: v Preston North End, March 4th, 2000
11216 - Bury: v Manchester City, September 13th 1997
26768 - Charlton Athletic: v Chelsea, December 26th 2003
41932 - Chelsea: v Manchester United, November 30th, 2003
23400 - Coventry City: v Manchester United,November 22nd, 1995
10092 - Crewe Alexandra: v Manchester City, 12th March 2002
26309 - Crystal Palace: Wimbledon v Manchester United, November 22nd, 1997
33597 - Derby County: England v Mexico, May 25th, 2001
40228 - Everton: v Newcastle United, September 13th, 2003
18800 - Fulham (at Loftus Road): v Arsenal, November 3rd, 2002

11418 - Gillingham: v West Ham United, September 20th 2003
-9528 - Grimsby Town: v Sunderland, March 13th, 1999
23678 - Huddersfield Town: v Liverpool, December 12 1999
25280 - Hull City: England U21 v Holland U21, February 24th, 2004
30152 - Ipswich Town: v Norwich City, 21st December 2003
40287 - Leeds United: v Newcastle United, December 22nd, 2000
32148 - Leicester City: v Newcastle United, 26th December, 2003
44929 - Liverpool: v Manchester United September 11th 1999
-9651 - Luton Town: v Wolverhampton W, April 4th 1995
47304 - Manchester City: v Chelsea, Feb 28th 2004

67758 - Manchester United: v Southampton 31 January 2004
-8653 - Mansfield Town: v Cheltenham, April 9th 2002
35000 - Middlesbrough: England v Slovakia, June 11th 2003
20093 - Millwall: v Arsenal, January 10th, 1994
-8118 - Milton Keynes Dons: v West Ham United, November 25th 2003
52181 - Newcastle United: v Sunderland, 21 September 2002
23942 - Norwich City: v Ipswich Town, March 7th, 2004
30025 - Nottingham Forest: v Manchester United, February 6th 1999
16952 - Notts County: v Tottenham Hotspur, October 26th 1994
13007 - Oldham Athletic : v Grimsby Town, February 8th, 2004

15582 - Port Vale: v Chesterfield, April 17 2004
20140 - Portsmouth: v Chelsea, Feb 11th 2004 (1st of 5 at 20,140)
21013 - Preston North End: v Manchester City, October 21st 2001
19002 - Queens Park Rangers: v Manchester City, November 6th, 1999
24107 - Reading: v Chelsea, December 3rd, 2003
30212 - Sheffield United: v Nottingham Forest, May 15th 2003
39640 - Sheffield Wednesday: v Manchester United, February 2nd, 2000
32151 - Southampton: v Arsenal, December 29th, 2003
11212 - Stockport County: v Manchester City, 21st March 2000
28218 - Stoke City: v Everton, January 5th, 2002

48353 - Sunderland: v Liverpool, April 13th 2002
14697 - Swindon Town: v Stockport County, May 4th, 1996
36233 - Tottenham Hotspur: v West Ham, December 6th, 1999
16377 - Tranmere Rovers: v Middlesbrough, May 7th, 1995
11049 - Walsall: v Rotherham United, 9 May 2004
21590 - Watford: v Sunderland, November 27th, 1999
27195 - West Bromwich Albion: v Sheffield United, October 14th, 2003
35550 - West Ham United: v Manchester City, September 21st, 2002
20069 - Wigan Athletic: v West Ham United, May 9th 2004
29396 - Wolverhampton Wndrs: v Manchester United, January 17th, 2004

[kerpow]

Nice work.

The folks over at www.footballgroundguide.co.uk (http://www.footballgroundguide.co.uk) may well be interested in that.

[Tottenham Hertspur]

Nice work.

The folks over at www.footballgroundguide.co.uk (http://www.footballgroundguide.co.uk) may well be interested in that.

Thanks. I have posted the same data on there and stadiumitis? has identified five more all-seaters:

11600 - Darlington: v Kidderminster, August 16th 2003
-8902 - Lincoln City: v Scunthorpe United, May 10th 2003
-7557 - Northampton: v Manchester City, September 26th 1998
12177 - Oxford United: v Aston Villa, November 6th 2002
11402 - Southend United: v Canvey Island, December 10th 2000

Plus Rotherham will be all-seater from the start of the new season, making a total of 66 out of the current 92.

There is still a bit of work to do before I can be satisfied the table is 100% reliable. The data for Bury and Stockport turns out to be just prior to conversion to all-seater; Sheffield Utd has been queried and doubtless there are a few others to come to light.

The owner of www.footballgroundguide.co.uk, Duncan Adams, is considering adding the data to his guide.

[kerpow]

Don't want to sound critical, but I think you might want to keep it to league games only eg. Hull hosting an U21 game. They are league football clubs so it should be kept to games between league teams. Otherwise you might get people listing more attendances at Huddersfield or Manchester City for an Oasis concert.

Or list both.

[Tottenham Hertspur]

Don't want to sound critical, but I think you might want to keep it to league games only eg. Hull hosting an U21 game. They are league football clubs so it should be kept to games between league teams. Otherwise you might get people listing more attendances at Huddersfield or Manchester City for an Oasis concert.

Or list both.

I agree its probably better to list both, so where this applies I will look it up and add it to the entry. Thanks for the suggestion.

I wouldn't want to quote a record for a non-football event (especially for events like rock concerts or boxing matches where spectators are allowed on to the pitch) because I doubt soccer fans are that interested.

Wichever criteria I apply, there are always going to be difficulties. Take a look at the permutations for Manchester Utd:

The record attendance at Old Trafford as 76,962, but that was for an FA Cup semi-final between Wolves and (amazingly enough) Grimsby Town.

The record attendance for a Manchester United home League game was 83,260 - but that was at Maine Road! Old Trafford was out of action in 1948 because of war damage.

Finally, the record attendance for a League game involving Man Utd at Old Trafford is 70,504 (v Aston Villa, Division I, 1920) - misleading if you want to know the highest attendance for the ground.

[kerpow]

Wow. Of course if you start looking at highest attendances of all time you'd really be opening a can of worms.

All seater is much more pertinent in todays game.

[Tottenham Hertspur]

Wow. Of course if you start looking at highest attendances of all time you'd really be opening a can of worms.

Not really because the overall record attendances are all out there already.

I'm glad you said the all-seater highest is more pertinent to todays game, because it has always baffled me why its never given - anywhere.

Hence the table.

[sokkerluver]

Excuse my French but, ********! How did you get all of those records????? That is incredible!! You deserve a hand of applause! :cool: :cool:

[Tottenham Hertspur]

Excuse my French but, ********! How did you get all of those records????? That is incredible!! You deserve a hand of applause! :cool: :cool:

You are very kind, but I have to admit a few omissions have since come to light, bringing the total all-seater Premiership and Coca-Cola League stadia to 67.

Here is my revised and updated list:

*Acknowledgements for help with these entries from fans on:
http://footballgroundguide.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1100.

-8909 - AFC Bournemouth: v Queens Park Rangers, 24 January 2004
38419 - Arsenal: v Leicester City, May 15th, 2004
42632 - Aston Villa: v Manchester United, August 26th 2001
22650 - Barnsley: v Manchester City, March 11th 2000
29588 - Birmingham City: v Arsenal, November 22nd 2003
30895 - Blackburn Rovers: v Liverpool, February 24th 1996
-8340 - Blackpool: v Tranmere Rovers, December 26th 2003*
28353 - Bolton Wanderers: v Leicester City, December 28th, 2003
22057 - Bradford City: v Liverpool, May 1st, 2001
-6928 - Brighton & Hove Albion: v Sheffield Wednesday, April 21st 2003
20007 - Bristol City: v Bristol Rovers, January 16th, 1996

22310 - Burnley: v Preston North End, March 4th, 2000
-9115 - Bury: v Burnley, December 26th 1999*
26768 - Charlton Athletic: v Chelsea, December 26th 2003
41932 - Chelsea: v Manchester United, November 30th, 2003
23400 - Coventry City: v Manchester United, November 22nd 1995
10092 - Crewe Alexandra: v Manchester City, 12th March 2002
26309 - Crystal Palace: Wimbledon v Manchester United, November 22nd 1997
11600 - Darlington: v Kidderminster, August 16th 2003*
33597 - Derby County: England v Mexico, May 25th, 2001
40228 - Everton: v Newcastle United, September 13th, 2003
18800 - Fulham (at Loftus Road): v Arsenal, November 3rd, 2002

11418 - Gillingham: v West Ham United, September 20th 2003
-9528 - Grimsby Town: v Sunderland, March 13th, 1999
23678 - Huddersfield Town: v Liverpool, December 12 1999
25280 - Hull City: England U21 v Holland U21, February 24th, 2004
30152 - Ipswich Town: v Norwich City, 21st December 2003
40287 - Leeds United: v Newcastle United, December 22nd, 2000
32148 - Leicester City: v Newcastle United, 26th December, 2003
-8902 - Lincoln City: v Scunthorpe United, May 10th 2003*
44929 - Liverpool: v Manchester United September 11th 1999
-9651 - Luton Town: v Wolverhampton W, April 4th 1995
47304 - Manchester City: v Chelsea, Feb 28th 2004

67758 - Manchester United: v Southampton 31 January 2004
-9243 - Mansfield Town: v Northampton Town, May 20th 2004
35000 - Middlesbrough: England v Slovakia, June 11th 2003
20093 - Millwall: v Arsenal, January 10th, 1994
-8118 - Milton Keynes Dons: v West Ham United, November 25th 2003
52181 - Newcastle United: v Sunderland, 21 September 2002
-7557 - Northampton Town v Manchester City, September 26th 1998*
23942 - Norwich City: v Ipswich Town, March 7th, 2004
30025 - Nottingham Forest: v Manchester United, February 6th 1999
16952 - Notts County: v Tottenham Hotspur, October 26th 1994
13007 - Oldham Athletic : v Grimsby Town, February 8th, 2004

12177 - Oxford United v Aston Villa, November 6th 2002*
15582 - Port Vale: v Chesterfield, April 17 2004
20140 - Portsmouth: v Chelsea, Feb 11th 2004 (1st of 5 at 20,140)
19161 - Preston North End v Wigan Athletic, January 17th 2003*
19002 - Queens Park Rangers: v Manchester City, November 6th, 1999
24107 - Reading: v Chelsea, December 3rd, 2003
-0000 - Rotherham United: all-seater from August 2004*
30212 - Sheffield United: v Nottingham Forest, May 15th 2003
39640 - Sheffield Wednesday: v Manchester United, February 2nd, 2000
32151 - Southampton: v Arsenal, December 29th, 2003
11402 - Southend United v Canvey Island, December 10th 2000*

-9547 - Stockport County v Manchester City, March 19th, 2002*
28218 - Stoke City: v Everton, January 5th, 2002
48353 - Sunderland: v Liverpool, April 13th 2002
14697 - Swindon Town: v Stockport County, May 4th, 1996*
36233 - Tottenham Hotspur: v West Ham, December 6th, 1999
16377 - Tranmere Rovers: v Middlesbrough, May 7th, 1995
11049 - Walsall: v Rotherham United, 9 May 2004
21590 - Watford: v Sunderland, November 27th, 1999
27195 - West Bromwich Albion: v Sheffield United, October 14th, 2003
35550 - West Ham United: v Manchester City, September 21st, 2002
20069 - Wigan Athletic: v West Ham United, May 9th 2004
29396 - Wolverhampton Wndrs: v Manchester United, January 17th, 2004

How did I get them? I have a collection of soccer annuals going back to the 1970s, plus a number of ground guides going back ten years.

But the best fun is to be had by exploring the Internet. If I think I have the record figure but I'm not sure, all I do is enter that figure into Google, plus the club name, and up pop several sites that have relevant info. Some of these are truly amazing, containing an astonishing pandora's box af facts, lists and databases that enable you to confirm the answer within seconds. For example, Bristol City converted to all-seater in August 1994 and this is what I found:

http://www.citystats.org.uk/search.asp?txtOpponent=&selComp=&selDateType=since&selDate=1995&selSort=attendance&selFind=&selVenue=H&selAbandon=

Impressive, or what!