There have been plenty of discussions regarding attendance during this weekend’s FA Cup matches.
Cardiff City’s poorly-attended meeting with Fulham was met with quips from the Match of the Day studio that the game was being played behind closed doors, while a supporter protest meant Hull City’s KCOM Stadium was just a quarter full for the visit of Swansea City.
Stan Collymore decided to get in on the act of commenting on the number of fans turning out for cup games, pointing out that the 31,000 or so at Tottenham v Aston Villa was roughly 10,000 shy of the number who turned out for Villa’s last home game in the Championship.
This, the former Villa striker argued, was enough to bring into question Danny Murphy’s comments about Steve Bruce’s men not being a ‘big club’, while the implication was that Spurs unquestionably fall into that category.
Now, in case you haven’t worked it out, there’s a bit of a problem with Collymore’s argument.
That’s right, it’s tough to fill 41,000 seats when the stadium physically doesn’t have that many.
White Hart Lane’s capacity has been trimmed from last season’s 36,000 as development work gets underway on their new, revamped stadium a short distance away. You might have heard about it when it was announced that Mauricio Pochettino’s team would play their Champions League group games at Wembley.
To put things into context, each of Spurs’ Premier League home games this season has been played in front of a crowd somewhere between 31,000 and 32,000, making anything close to Villa’s 41,000 literally impossible.
And more than a few Tottenham supporters pointed out the flaw in Collymore’s logic.
https://twitter.com/MacChapwell/status/818142168674144259
https://twitter.com/_Spursy/status/818141340219428865
@johncrossmirror that's very close to the maximum attendance with a corner of the stadium missing you absolute idiot
— Jack Curtis (@jackcurtis90) January 8, 2017
@johncrossmirror 31,000 is capacity! I'm confused by your point?
— Dan Cole (@dacl1177) January 8, 2017
Spurs, of course, attracted upwards of 85,000 to their first two Champions League fixtures – against Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen, and even the effective dead rubber against CSKA Moscow saw more than 60,000 people head along to the national stadium.
If they are producing attendances of 31,000 at their new 61,000-seater ground, then there might be an issue. Until then, they’re probably doing just fine.
