Late 80's/Early 90's Crowds

[Gorm]

Watching a few clips on YT of Goodison in the late 80's early 90's. From the back end of the great days up to the Beardsley/Ablett/MoJo days.
Very striking how small the crowds were!
Empty spaces every where. Avg crowds of 27-29,000.

Anyone here of that vintage know why that was??
If anything I'd say we were a lot bigger in the city than we are today. Seems very odd?

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I'd cross check it compared to other clubs st the time, attendances were lower across the board.

Newcastle were getting 5k in the 2nd division if I recall.

 

[heatmeiser]

I remember when about 3000 people were at Selhurst for us versus Wimbledon.

Great days tbh, would go back.

 

[StreetEndBlue]

I was there against Southampton in December 1993, a game made 'famous' for Howard Kendall's resignation after the game because the board (which BK was part of, by the way) wouldn't sanction the deal he'd agreed with Man Utd for Dion Dublin.

Goodison attendance that day...13,667. The lowest for a league game in all the time I've followed this club. Swathes of empty seats everywhere on this vid.

 

[Tramps_mate]

Watching a few clips on YT of Goodison in the late 80's early 90's. From the back end of the great days up to the Beardsley/Ablett/MoJo days.
Very striking how small the crowds were!
Empty spaces every where. Avg crowds of 27-29,000.

Anyone here of that vintage know why that was??
If anything I'd say we were a lot bigger in the city than we are today. Seems very odd?

I'm pretty sure some early 90's crowds were 7-8,000. But I may have that wrong. Particularly when the Park End was being built...

 

[MACCA75]

I think ‘official’ attendances were also lower than the actual reality - but football was in the doldrums until the Prem revamp following Italia ‘90.

 

[adi dassler]

Watching a few clips on YT of Goodison in the late 80's early 90's. From the back end of the great days up to the Beardsley/Ablett/MoJo days.
Very striking how small the crowds were!
Empty spaces every where. Avg crowds of 27-29,000.

Anyone here of that vintage know why that was??
If anything I'd say we were a lot bigger in the city than we are today. Seems very odd?

You're being generous with 27-29,000 average for the early 90s. Was more like 17k-21k unless it was a big game.

Symptomatic of the Times though. Huge recession so money was tight. The game wasn't 'fashionable' like it is now, with hooliganism and the stadium disasters of the mid-late 80s. Crowd demographic was predominantly working class males, not the family affair it is now.

There was also pay on the gate, which led to Everton (allegedly) fiddling the books, so the attendance may have been much higher than officially reported.

 

[Runub]

I remember when about 3000 people were at Selhurst for us versus Wimbledon.

Great days tbh, would go back.

I remember watching Everton at Plough Lane. What a place that was

 

[nsno-chris]

Used to be able to pick your seat in the street end, none of this assigned ticket nonsense

 

[Joey66]

The 1980s - 1990s were lower crowds than 1960/70s when most games were pay at the turnstile - plus the recession in the 1980s kept the crowds away sadly - The days of leaving it till late to attend a game home or away are long gone ....

 

[Alanbileysfeathercut]

We was rubbish then.....oh hang on.

 

[Dario Terracotta]

Gates we’re always around 35k-40kish average for the season throughout the seventies,started to tail off early 1980’s when the recession hit big time,gates generally for most clubs throughout the 1980s were generally poor,we in the main attracted similar attendances to the RS mid 1980s averaging around 32/33000ish,Man U probably just around 40,000 too,as the recession improved early 1990s our attendances actually plummeted,a very poor side to watch but I think the fans who had stopped going a few years earlier didn’t see anything to entice them back!!it was only the onset of the Premier league our gates improved dramatically and kicked on more with the FA Cup success in 1995.

 

[Ferguson1878]

Watching a few clips on YT of Goodison in the late 80's early 90's. From the back end of the great days up to the Beardsley/Ablett/MoJo days.
Very striking how small the crowds were!
Empty spaces every where. Avg crowds of 27-29,000.

Anyone here of that vintage know why that was??
If anything I'd say we were a lot bigger in the city than we are today. Seems very odd?

it was across the whole of the league then except maybe for utd and liverpool i remember 92 season gettin low 20 thousand loads of times only seemed to pick up when big joe took over

 

[Dr Baxter]

Watching a few clips on YT of Goodison in the late 80's early 90's. From the back end of the great days up to the Beardsley/Ablett/MoJo days.
Very striking how small the crowds were!
Empty spaces every where. Avg crowds of 27-29,000.

Anyone here of that vintage know why that was??
If anything I'd say we were a lot bigger in the city than we are today. Seems very odd?

I don't think we were bigger in the city then. I think we have a stronger fan base now than then. We have far more match going fans who are youngsters and teenagers than was the case 30 years ago. That's just one reason crowds are bigger now.

On another note, one thing that peaked a long time ago is the haemorrhaging of fans over to the dark side. I'm referring to sons and daughters of Evertonian fathers following the other crowd. It must have been a huge flow from the 60's onwards. I suspect there may be some still but now it's more like a trickle. I've even heard of young people following Everton because they actually want to go to a match rather than watch one on the TV.

 

[maccavennie]

I was there against Southampton in December 1993, a game made 'famous' for Howard Kendall's resignation after the game because the board (which BK was part of, by the way) wouldn't sanction the deal he'd agreed with Man Utd for Dion Dublin.

Goodison attendance that day...13,667. The lowest for a league game in all the time I've followed this club. Swathes of empty seats everywhere on this vid.

I'm not lying when I say me and my mate pretty much had the whole of the lower bullens to ourselves that day. I must have moved seats about 15 times lol