The new East stand and the myth of 98/99 attendances

[Hibbyradge]

I had someone on my Facebook, a Hibby, remind me that Hibs' attendances during the successful 98/99 promotion season were regularly over 15000.

The power of a winning team, he pointed out.

Except, he's wrong.

In fact, today's crowd was only 300 less than our highest attendance that season, a crunch game against Falkirk towards the end of the season. We never reached 15000.

I have no doubts, that if we continue to win games, we'll regularly see crowds exceeding 16k. We already have.

The new East is paying dividends and it can't be long till it's paid for itself.

[Smartie]

We had a bumper crowd around Christmas against Raith I seem to remember.

[Jonnyboy]

I had someone on my Facebook, a Hibby, remind me that Hibs' attendances during the successful 98/99 promotion season were regularly over 15000.

The power of a winning team, he pointed out.

Except, he's wrong.

In fact, today's crowd was only 300 less than our highest attendance that season, a crunch game against Falkirk towards the end of the season. We never reached 14000.

I have no doubts, thst if we continue to win games, we'll regularly see crowds exceeding 16k. We already have.

The new East is paying dividends and it can't be long till it's paid for itself.

It's a popular myth and as you say, wholly incorrect!

Proof for your Facebook poster can be found here

http://www.fitbastats.com/hibs/team_results_season.php

[Jonnyboy]

We had a bumper crowd around Christmas against Raith I seem to remember.

:agree: 14,703

[Hibbyradge]

We had a bumper crowd around Christmas against Raith I seem to remember.

14700

[rcarter1]

I remember the Raith game in 98/99as well, and it was a bumper for that season at over 14K. As the OP said, we are on course to hammer that seasons average attendances with how we have started. Really good news to see the numbers up. :thumbsup:

[LancashireHibby]

Overall capacity was only 16,500 in those days so it's easy to see how the memory can play tricks with the figures when it was looking so busy back then.

[GreenCastle]

We play Raith this December also at home and Dundee Utd first game at home in 2017.

Could well be full houses! Hopefully !

[Mibbes Aye]

We had a bumper crowd around Christmas against Raith I seem to remember.


I remember the Raith game in 98/99as well, and it was a bumper for that season at over 14K. As the OP said, we are on course to hammer that seasons average attendances with how we have started. Really good news to see the numbers up. :thumbsup:

I can't remember how they partitioned it but we had part of the South for that game.

[Hibbyradge]

I can't remember how they partitioned it but we had part of the South for that game.

Yes, you're correct.

[Broken Gnome]

Yes, you're correct.

We had all the South I think? Remember being up the top, and Raith were in the main stand. Doubt they'd have had two sections.

The crunch game against Falkirk would have been the last home game and trophy presentation as well, no?

[G B Young]

Circumstances were different back then though. We'd had a few really dire years at the tail-end of the Alex Miller era and the Duffy debacle where we failed to heed the warning of being in the relegation play-offs, only to find ourselves back in them again the next season. Yes, we were at a horribly low ebb post-Butcher too, but there's been a couple of much more positive years since then and of course we went into this season on the back of a historic Scottish Cup win and a very exciting managerial appointment.

They may not have been quite as high as many believe but the First Division attendances under McLeish were still very good and I think the crowds following our return to the top flight were consistently high with Sauzee, Latapy and co a major draw. Crowds weren't slow to decline again under Williamson.

[stantonhibby]

I had someone on my Facebook, a Hibby, remind me that Hibs' attendances during the successful 98/99 promotion season were regularly over 15000.

The power of a winning team, he pointed out.

Except, he's wrong.

In fact, today's crowd was only 300 less than our highest attendance that season, a crunch game against Falkirk towards the end of the season. We never reached 15000.

I have no doubts, that if we continue to win games, we'll regularly see crowds exceeding 16k. We already have.

The new East is paying dividends and it can't be long till it's paid for itself.

The folk girning about building the East have gone awfy quiet.

[Aldo]

I can't remember how they partitioned it but we had part of the South for that game.

I was in the south upper for the Raith game.

I also remembering it being bitterly cold that day!!

[Golden Bear]

The folk girning about building the East have gone awfy quiet.

It's all very posh and sophisticated but it's never quite managed to generate the same atmosphere. The linesmen on the East side don't know how lucky they are these days.!

[Jonnyboy]

It's all very posh and sophisticated but it's never quite managed to generate the same atmosphere. The linesmen on the East side don't know how lucky they are these days.!

Speaking of East Stand lino's, anybody know why Muir was called across to him, had a natter and then went to the tunnel where he appeared to hand something to a yellow jacketed official?

[greenlex]

Speaking of East Stand lino's, anybody know why Muir was called across to him, had a natter and then went to the tunnel where he appeared to hand something to a yellow jacketed official?
He was handing in the bottle that had finally been found. Hearts lost it in the Scottish Cup replay last year.:aok:

[ACLeith]

He was handing in the bottle that had finally been found. Hearts lost it in the Scottish Cup replay last year.:aok:

👍👍👍👍👍

[Jonnyboy]

He was handing in the bottle that had finally been found. Hearts lost it in the Scottish Cup replay last year.:aok:

:faf: :top marks

[Hibbyradge]

Some idiot threw something onto the pitch, according to Hibs TV.

[Scouse Hibee]

Speaking of East Stand lino's, anybody know why Muir was called across to him, had a natter and then went to the tunnel where he appeared to hand something to a yellow jacketed official?

Thrown by some erse after we scored

[Ergye]

Some idiot threw something onto the pitch, according to Hibs TV.

It was actually I that threw on the old suicide note that I'd kept from watching Jim Duffy's team in the very season before the one we are discussing here, with a specific message to the ref to give to the Morton fans - 'DON'T GIVE UP. IT GET'S BETTER'.

[IWasThere2016]

I had someone on my Facebook, a Hibby, remind me that Hibs' attendances during the successful 98/99 promotion season were regularly over 15000.

The power of a winning team, he pointed out.

Except, he's wrong.

In fact, today's crowd was only 300 less than our highest attendance that season, a crunch game against Falkirk towards the end of the season. We never reached 15000.

I have no doubts, that if we continue to win games, we'll regularly see crowds exceeding 16k. We already have.

The new East is paying dividends and it can't be long till it's paid for itself.

In what way is it likely to pay for itself??

[mca]

He was handing in the bottle that had finally been found. Hearts lost it in the Scottish Cup replay last year.:aok:


Hope We Dont Give It Back For a While !!!! :wink:

[Jumbo]

Speaking of East Stand lino's, anybody know why Muir was called across to him, had a natter and then went to the tunnel where he appeared to hand something to a yellow jacketed official?

it was an apple thrown just after goal, also one just missed SJM when he took a corner a couple of minutes earlier. Don't know if they'd come from outside ground as there were a few on street outside FF at full time ??

[Hibbyradge]

Hope We Dont Give It Back For a While !!!! :wink:

:thumbsup:

[Hibbyradge]

it was an apple thrown just after goal, also one just missed SJM when he took a corner a couple of minutes earlier. Don't know if they'd come from outside ground as there were a few on street outside FF at full time ??

The Hibs TV guys thought the ref had taken a note of the incident. We could be doing without that.

[Ringothedog]

it was an apple thrown just after goal, also one just missed SJM when he took a corner a couple of minutes earlier. Don't know if they'd come from outside ground as there were a few on street outside FF at full time ??
A group of young arrogant Muppets right in the corner,barely watched the game threw the apples and were told in no uncertain terms what would happen to them if they did it again.

[lord bunberry]

One of the apples nearly hit me. They must've picked them on the way to the game as they were tiny wee things.

[Pretty Boy]

The Hibs TV guys thought the ref had taken a note of the incident. We could be doing without that.

It was the linesman that noticed it because it just missed hitting him. He called the ref over after we scored, pointed it out to him and he took a note of it then kicked it off the park. It will definitely be in his report.

Exactly what we don't need right now and you wonder what goes through some folks head. Complete muppets.

[jgl07]

Circumstances were different back then though. We'd had a few really dire years at the tail-end of the Alex Miller era and the Duffy debacle where we failed to heed the warning of being in the relegation play-offs, only to find ourselves back in them again the next season. Yes, we were at a horribly low ebb post-Butcher too, but there's been a couple of much more positive years since then and of course we went into this season on the back of a historic Scottish Cup win and a very exciting managerial appointment.

They may not have been quite as high as many believe but the First Division attendances under McLeish were still very good and I think the crowds following our return to the top flight were consistently high with Sauzee, Latapy and co a major draw. Crowds weren't slow to decline again under Williamson.
The relegation season had decent crowds. The worse crowds were in the early 1990s. The typical attendance for a visit of St Johnston would have been 4,000 - 4,500 although for one match (1992?) it was around 2,500.

I can remember a midweek match against Raith pulling in over 9,000 to everyone's surprise. It was probably down to the fact that Hibs were issuing vouchers at the turnstiles to guarantee a League Cup final ticket against Rangers.

The Alex McLeish promotion season had lower crowds than the previous relegation season. To be fair this was largely down to the lower number of visiting fans rather than to a reduction in the home support. The relegation season started very brightly and also finished quite well under McLeish.

I can't remember many 10,000+ crowds in the promotion season apart from the ones mentioned. This was despite having the likes of Mixu, Latapy and Sauzee in the team. Maybe the myth was down to it looking more full. 9,500 in a 12,500 home capacity probably looked a lot fuller than 11,000 in a 17,000 home capacity. A lot of empty seats in the old main stand and the East Terrace would not be visible due to the low roof.

[Keith_M]

The relegation season had decent crowds. The worse crowds were in the early 1990s. The typical attendance for a visit of St Johnston would have been 4,000 - 4,500 although for one match (1992?) it was around 2,500.


In the early 90's (90/91-94/95), we had two home games with attendances of around 3,500 (both end of season games with nothing left to play for). The lowest against St Johnstone I can find for that era was 4,996.

Are you maybe thinking of a match at McDiarmiad Park?

:dunno:


FWIW, our average attendances were around 9.5k over the five seasons. Pretty poor when you think we were in the Premier and played Celtc, Rangers and Hearts twice each at ER.

[snooky]

As I have mentioned on Hibsnet before, back around 1970 when Johnny Graham played for us, there was a Wednesday night game at ER. If we were to win, we would go top of the League. The attendance that night IIRC was just over 7k.
Can you imagine what the attendance would be today playing a game to go top of the SPL?

[jgl07]

In the early 90's (90/91-94/95), we had two home games with attendances of around 3,500 (both end of season games with nothing left to play for). The lowest against St Johnstone I can find for that era was 4,996.

Are you maybe thinking of a match at McDiarmiad Park?

The very low attendance was for a match played in a deluge I recall. The supporters were huddled at the back of the stands to avoid the rain. I had a figure of 4,600 in mind for the two matches the later season. I may have transposed this from 6,400?

I will check the figures when I get home from the Rothman's annual.

The fact is that Hibs fans were quite fickle and often would pick their matches. There were plenty of very low attendances in the Turnbull's Tornados era and even for the Famous Five if it was someone like Arbroath visiting.

[Keith_M]

The very low attendance was for a match played in a deluge I recall. The supporters were huddled at the back of the stands to avoid the rain. I had a figure of 4,600 in mind for the two matches the later season. I may have transposed this from 6,400?

I will check the figures when I get home from the Rothman's annual.

The fact is that Hibs fans were quite fickle and often would pick their matches. There were plenty of very low attendances in the Turnbull's Tornados era and even for the Famous Five if it was someone like Arbroath visiting.


That is very true.

Attendances nowadays are much steadier than in earlier decades

[Hiber-nation]

As I have mentioned on Hibsnet before, back around 1970 when Johnny Graham played for us, there was a Wednesday night game at ER. If we were to win, we would go top of the League. The attendance that night IIRC was just over 7k.
Can you imagine what the attendance would be today playing a game to go top of the SPL?

People were getting peed off with Hibs' inconsistency and selling our best players back in the late 60s/early 70s. Crowds had dropped quite a bit before Turnbull took over. I know things are different these days - back in the 70s hardly anyone had a ST - but our crowd yesterday was only slightly below a home game v Dundee at the height of the Tornadoes power.

The only season when our crowds were on a par with this season was 2007-08 on the back of the League Cup win. Unlike that era, things will only get better!

[SouthsideHarp_Bhoy]

Do we also habe to factor in the likely scenario of clubs deliberately underreporting crowds - must have happened

[Hibbyradge]

Do we also habe to factor in the likely scenario of clubs deliberately underreporting crowds - must have happened

Believe me, when you're stiid in a 3500ish crowd at Easter Road, there could be no under reporting.

In any case, I hink that practice stopped in the 60s, if it happened at all.

Over reporting was rife during Romanov's time at the PBS because he needed to wash his dosh.

[LustForLeith]

We had a bumper crowd around Christmas against Raith I seem to remember.

Paul Hartley made his debut in that game if I remember. Don't think the high attendance and his first outing in Hibs strip were connected

[jgl07]

Believe me, when you're stiid in a 3500ish crowd at Easter Road, there could be no under reporting.

In any case, I think that practice stopped in the 60s, if it happened at all.

Over reporting was rife during Romanov's time at the PBS because he needed to wash his dosh.
Over reporting is still rife at Celtic. They still like to cling to the 'big club' illusion.

Under reporting was much harder when all-seater stadiums came in.

[KWJ]

Mind that Raith game pretty well. It was the first game of the new year and Pat McGinley scored in 14 seconds which had all the Hibs fans singing 'Happy New Year' to the Raith fans.

That was my first half season ticket and I reckon we were above 10k pretty often.

[Jamesie]

The very low attendance was for a match played in a deluge I recall. The supporters were huddled at the back of the stands to avoid the rain. I had a figure of 4,600 in mind for the two matches the later season. I may have transposed this from 6,400?

I will check the figures when I get home from the Rothman's annual.

The fact is that Hibs fans were quite fickle and often would pick their matches. There were plenty of very low attendances in the Turnbull's Tornados era and even for the Famous Five if it was someone like Arbroath visiting.

From memory that St Johnstone game was our first fixture after losing the Scottish Cup semi to Aberdeen and there may have been a bit of a hangover following that defeat.

[--------]

Believe me, when you're stiid in a 3500ish crowd at Easter Road, there could be no under reporting.

In any case, I hink that practice stopped in the 60s, if it happened at all.

Over reporting was rife during Romanov's time at the PBS because he needed to wash his dosh.


They didn't under-report really wee crowds, but I do suspect that reported attendances weren't always as accurate as might be at bigger games?

I used to go to the stand enclosure, and having watched the terrace fill up gradually from about 2.30 I would have a crowd figure in my head that was usually a good bit less than the figure quoted in the pink News.

I really feel that a shortfall of 1,000 or so in the reported attendance wasn't at all unusual.

But I'm sure we wouldn't have wanted to cheat the tax-man - would we?

[JimBHibees]

They didn't under-report really wee crowds, but I do suspect that reported attendances weren't always as accurate as might be at bigger games?

I used to go to the stand enclosure, and having watched the terrace fill up gradually from about 2.30 I would have a crowd figure in my head that was usually a good bit less than the figure quoted in the pink News.

I really feel that a shortfall of 1,000 or so in the reported attendance wasn't at all unusual.

But I'm sure we wouldn't have wanted to cheat the tax-man - would we?

Dont think we were the only one? Can remember going to Parkhead for cup game with Hibs and I would have guessed at 40k which was reported as something like 25k. Funny had that particular club has gone full circle in terms of reporting attendances. :greengrin

[Hibbyradge]

That was my first half season ticket and I reckon we were above 10k pretty often.

5 times.

[G B Young]

The relegation season had decent crowds. The worse crowds were in the early 1990s. The typical attendance for a visit of St Johnston would have been 4,000 - 4,500 although for one match (1992?) it was around 2,500.

I can remember a midweek match against Raith pulling in over 9,000 to everyone's surprise. It was probably down to the fact that Hibs were issuing vouchers at the turnstiles to guarantee a League Cup final ticket against Rangers.

The Alex McLeish promotion season had lower crowds than the previous relegation season. To be fair this was largely down to the lower number of visiting fans rather than to a reduction in the home support. The relegation season started very brightly and also finished quite well under McLeish.

I can't remember many 10,000+ crowds in the promotion season apart from the ones mentioned. This was despite having the likes of Mixu, Latapy and Sauzee in the team. Maybe the myth was down to it looking more full. 9,500 in a 12,500 home capacity probably looked a lot fuller than 11,000 in a 17,000 home capacity. A lot of empty seats in the old main stand and the East Terrace would not be visible due to the low roof.

In my recollection the really low crowds were in the early 80s under Bertie Auld and even under Pat Stanton. I certainly recall crowds of three or four thousands being not uncommon. The club had declined very quickly since the mid-70s and it was a grim time. For Hearts it was even worse as they yo-yo'd between the divisions. I remember going to a game at Tynecastle with a Jambo mate in the First Division and the crowd was 1,900.

[jgl07]

In the early 90's (90/91-94/95), we had two home games with attendances of around 3,500 (both end of season games with nothing left to play for). The lowest against St Johnstone I can find for that era was 4,996.

Are you maybe thinking of a match at McDiarmiad Park?

The match concerned was against St Johnstone was on 6/4/93 and had 3,562 there. The earlier fixture had 5,988 attending.

The two matches against St Johnstone in the 1993-4 season with 4,996 and 6,628.

In the 1991-92 season Hibs v Airdrie had only 3,254 and 6,622 while Hibs v St Johnstone produced a creditable 7,107 and 9,236.

[Steve-O]

I remember a big crowd against Ayr Utd in the range of 14,000 that season too. Most were closer to 10,000 though, with South Stand mostly empty.

[Keith_M]

The match concerned was against St Johnstone was on 6/4/93 and had 3,562 there. The earlier fixture had 5,988 attending.

The two matches against St Johnstone in the 1993-4 season with 4,996 and 6,628.

In the 1991-92 season Hibs v Airdrie had only 3,254 and 6,622 while Hibs v St Johnstone produced a creditable 7,107 and 9,236.


Cheers for the info

:aok:

[patch1875]

We had a bumper crowd around Christmas against Raith I seem to remember.

Will never forget that game! I had full on flu and had to leave at half time as I was freezing even with 10 layers on and joggys under my jeans. Though I was going to pass out walking back but a nice policeman stopped and gave me a lift home!

[Jonnyboy]

I remember a big crowd against Ayr Utd in the range of 14,000 that season too. Most were closer to 10,000 though, with South Stand mostly empty.

:agree: This one http://www.fitbastats.com/hibs/game.php?gameid=59822