A survey carried out on away fans travelling the length and breadth of the country this season for Premier League and Championship clubs has been carried out, with the results revealed.
Thousands of fans were surveyed, by the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF), with them asked to give a score out of 10 for the ‘away fan experience’ and this has seen some interesting results.
Kevin Miles, chief executive of the FSF, is one of those looking to make the experiences as good as possible for all fans wherever you’re travelling and that’s why those that do it right, and not so right, are highlighted as it’s all for the greater good as they say.
‘Away supporters are vital to the health of our game and football matches would be far poorer places without their presence. Football shouldn’t take them for granted.
‘If a visitor comes to your home, you treat them well, yet we often hear from travelling fans who feel they’re treated as a problem, rather than as a valued guest. Whether its high prices or an unfriendly welcome, away supporters are often at the sharp end.
‘We want to fix that, stand up for the travelling fan, and highlight those clubs who do it right. It’s in everyone’s interests, particularly in terms of atmosphere in the ground, to have healthy away attendances.’
Away fans rated a range of things such as:-
· Transport links
· Turnstiles
· Stadium layout
· Food and drink
· Sightlines
· Safety and Security
It’ll come as no surprise that 45% of those surveyed had the match ticket price as an ‘important’ factor behind deciding what games they travelled for with 53% basing this on the day and time of the game with the distance of travel required a key factor for 52%.
But, perhaps, most surprising of all was the fact that only 4% picked a game based on ‘likelihood of victory’ so it’s clear to see that, as much as we want to see our team winning it’s not the be all and end all of things is it – first and foremost we want to enjoy our experience and be entertained, even if it doesn’t mean we’ll win, after all entertainment is the name of the game! That and the fact we want a good experience to the ground we’re travelling too.
Now to the all important ‘best and worst’ from the 2014/15 season….
As a combined Premier League and Championship figure a trip to the JD Stadium as a travelling fans to Wigan, who might have endured a miserable season in the Championship as they suffered relegation into League 1, came out on top with a score 0f 7.83 out of 10.
QPR, who also had a miserable campaign as they were relegated from the Premier League, not only finished bottom of the Premier League pile with only 3.58 out of 10 scored that also saw Loftus Road tips ranked lowest of the two combined.
The top Premier League experience, again despite relegation being suffered, was Hull with 7.79 out of 10 given for a trip to the KC Stadium, so this might act as some consolation following a return to the Championship?
Obviously, having topped the combined list, Wigan was the top Championship away fan experience with Blackpool’s, another club that had a fair share of problems on and off the field last season, 5 out of 10 deeming Bloomfield Road the worst away day experience.
Combined Premier League and Championship results (marks out of 10):-
Wigan Athletic 7.83
Derby County 7.82
Hull City 7.79
Brighton & HA 7.69
Rotherham United 7.55
Cardiff City 7.40
Huddersfield Town 7.32
Southampton 7.23
Reading 7.23
Stoke City 6.94
Sunderland 6.93
Fulham 6.86
Watford 6.86
Leicester City 6.84
Arsenal 6.84
Middlesbrough 6.74
Swansea City 6.72
Newcastle United 6.68
Charlton Athletic 6.65
WBA 6.63
AFC Bournemouth 6.63
Manchester City 6.53
Blackburn Rovers 6.51
Millwall 6.50
Birmingham City 6.48
Nottingham Forest 6.35
Brentford 6.32
Bolton Wanderers 6.31
Spurs 6.11
Ipswich Town 6.08
Everton 5.80
Burnley 5.76
Wolves 5.70
Aston Villa 5.69
West Ham United 5.58
Chelsea 5.52
Manchester United 5.40
Liverpool 5.32
Leeds United 5.28
Sheffield Wednesday 5.26
Norwich City 5.09
Blackpool 5.00
Crystal Palace 4.94
QPR 3.58
I’ll point out that a survey was also carried out on League 1 and League 2 clubs but the FSF report that the ‘datasets were not as comprehensive’ hence why clubs from those levels aren’t included in this list.
For more details on this, and how the FSF could help you, visit the Football Supporters’ Federation.
What do you think? Are you happy with the experience we offer away fans then again are you happy with the experience you get as a home fan!
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