20,749

Was Saturday's attendance.

Although this is good news for those wanting to pick up tickets for pretty much any game, it is also quite worrying.

We have lost a lot of support it appears. Surely there wasn't 6k premier league plastics?

I hope this was down to the fact that our opposition were unglamorous, but for the opening home game of the season? It's a bit concerning.

I think there are a few factors at work here Rhys. When we got promoted to the Prem a lot of people were obviously keen to see us playing against the 'big teams' that weren't interested before. A number of these will have decided that a season ticket was the safest option as they knew there would be a bid demand.

Forward a 12 month and with relegation AND a bigger stadium the less committed know there will be seats available and will forgo buying a season ticket to pick and choose their games. Huddersfield, in August with the schools still off, was never going to be a big draw for the more casual fan.

Add to this that the attendance in the away end, which was often packed last season, will be well down on most games and that is going to adversely affect the crowd too.

I really hope that if we do ok and are around  the play off spots during the season that we wont drop below 20,000 for a weekend game. I would also hope that if we were fighting strongly in 1st or 2nd place then those crowds will begin to creep up nearer the 23,000 - 24,000 mark especially against a promotion rival.

Loss of crowds when relegated is a phenomena that affects just about every club. As long as we keep above 20,000 for most games and increase the numbers if successful then i think that will be a reasonable and predicatable outcome.

I mentioned in this in the match thread. Worrying for the first game, but as you both said, unglamorous opponents, summer holidays and smaller travelling support are all factors.

A good run will get us up to the 23,000 mark, I am sure.

Fulham lost 8000 on their premiership average, so comparatively we are'nt that bad.

On the face of it it seems like a big drop, but that's only a few hundred lower than the corresponding fixture two years ago on the opening day.