It’s fair to say that Leeds United fans have been far from united over the past few seasons. Ken Bates had driven a wedge between supporters, divided opinion and played us off against each other. Whichever side of the Bates debate you happened to fall you can’t argue that attendances have fallen dramatically over the past few years. There are many reasons; the recession hitting fans in the pocket, high ticket prices, the substandard football, selling our best players, our chairman insulting fans and supporters staying away in the hope that it would force Bates out.Whatever peoples reasons for staying away, on Saturday they returned. 33,432 people turned up to watch us win against Brighton. That attendance figure is in stark contrast to last seasons opener against Wolverhampton Wanderers when only 23,745 turned up, the lowest since 2006-2007, the season we were relegated to League One. Supporters were disenfranchised; average attendance fell from 26,739 during our first year back in the Championship, to 23,369 the following season and just 21,572 last season.
The return of 10,000 people is a direct result of the removal of Bates and the new attitude of the club towards its supporters. The new board are very keen to reengage with supporters, reduced ticket prices, half season tickets, frozen season ticket prices, new membership pricing and engagement with the supporters trust. Saturdays pre match antics were all very staged managed, the ‘the past is in the past’ t-shirts, the board giving prizes to the fans on the pitch etc but the intentions were good and it is clear they want a good relationship with the fans.
Now that those 10,000 have returned it is important to keep them coming to Elland Road. The performance on Saturday, will help. What the team lacked in quality they made up for in hard work and commitment and the result was obviously fantastic. Big crowds and a good atmosphere in the stadium will get the players going and likewise when the players give everything the crowd will get behind them. Keeping those fans coming back is vital and for that reason there are 10,000 reasons why this performance/result was more important than the 3 points.
