Your memory is spot on as is your assessment. The way the club is built and their funding programme they need success .….i clearly remember they couldn’t give tickets away for free in the pub during the Hodgson era.
Fans spend a fortune for a tourist weekend to buy their half/half scarves but they’ll stop booking if there’s no attraction. Their support is global but their model is fragile when times aren’t great.
Pretty sure they had some issues with demand and a lot on resale for one of the games in December , Sunderland maybe .
