Gates not quite so fan-tastic

ATHLETIC are said to be one of only six clubs in Coca-Cola League One who publish true attendances.

Huddersfield Town chairman Dean Hoyle claims threequarters of the clubs in the division provide figures which include ticket holders who do not attend matches.

“The word attendance means those people attending a game,” said Athletic chief executive Alan Hardy. “We only report those who come through the turnstiles.”

Mr Hoyle raised the issue of when a crowd is not a crowd in his programme notes for a recent league game against Stockport County.

He said: “Our informal enquiries of other clubs in League One shows we are among what appears to be a tiny and declining minority of those who report attendances as those actually present.

“The rest announce figures including tickets issued but not used, though I will not give the game away as to which clubs adopt this method.”

Mr Hoyle said Huddersfield’s average attendance of 13,351 last season would have been 18,466 had they adopted the ‘tickets issued’ method.

Similarly this season, the 12,096 average would have swelled to 14,689.

He continued: “Does it matter? Of course it does, as comparing apples with apples has to be right.

“Most importantly it is a matter of honesty as artificially inflating crowds misleads fans and the public in general.

“It makes comparability impossible. Having large crowds brings pride and is also good for attracting players.

“For years, seemingly well-supported teams may not have been as popular as it would appear from gates in the Sunday papers.”

In a bid to show complete transparency, Huddersfield are giving fans two figures for each game – the actual attendance and the number of tickets sold.