The series of features on the 1900s starts today with a simple look at the average attendances of league clubs. I’m publishing the statistics here for season 1899-1900 when Manchester City was a First Division club for the first time. They were the third best supported club – the highest position either Manchester team had enjoyed up to that point. In fact City had been the best supported club for the opening months of the season as the heading photo shows (that’s from 20 January 1900).
All these figures are estimated based on newspaper reports of the period but are widely accepted as a good indication of support enjoyed at each club.
In the following table every team is in Division One unless (2) appears after their name. This indicates they were a Second Division club that season. Where two teams have the same average then these have been listed in alphabetic order.
1899-1900 Average Attendances
| Average | Team |
| 19825 | Aston Villa |
| 16725 | Newcastle |
| 16000 | Manchester City |
| 12925 | Everton |
| 11325 | Liverpool |
| 11175 | Sheff Utd |
| 10475 | Sunderland |
| 8950 | Notts County |
| 8125 | Derby |
| 7875 | Nottm Forest |
| 7700 | Stoke |
| 7150 | Sheff Wed (2) |
| 6575 | Wolves |
| 6475 | Blackburn |
| 6250 | Leicester Fosse (2) |
| 6225 | Newton Heath (2) |
| 6175 | WBA |
| 5925 | Burnley |
| 5925 | Middlesbrough (2) |
| 5775 | Bury |
| 5050 | Small Heath (2) |
| 4825 | Preston |
| 4800 | Bolton (2) |
| 4125 | Woolwich Arsenal (2) |
| 4000 | Glossop |
| 3775 | Grimsby (2) |
| 3775 | Lincoln (2) |
| 2950 | Chesterfield (2) |
| 2875 | New Brighton Tower (2) |
| 2525 | Walsall (2) |
| 2400 | Barnsley (2) |
| 1875 | Gainsborough Trinity (2) |
| 1675 | Burslem Port Vale (2) |
| 1650 | Loughborough (2) |
| 1650 | Luton (2) |
| 1500 | Burton Swifts (2) |
This series of features covers Manchester City in the opening years of the twentieth century. Why not subscribe and read every feature?
Tomorrow there’ll be a subscriber article on the 1900-01 season in a similar style to those recently posted on the 1890s. Here’s an 1800 article below on Manchester City in the final months of 1899:
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More on the 1900s tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?
Gary James' Football Archive 