1.) 06 Jan 2016
06 Jan 2016 22:52:53
A lot of that is down to the affordability of tickets bond. Maybe if the PL stopped taking advantage of fans and lowered thier prices the English PL could compete with the Bundesliga.

{Ed007's Note - Write to your club about it then, it still doesn't change the fact that the OP got mixed up in his comparison.}

2.) 06 Jan 2016
06 Jan 2016 23:21:12
Best atmosphere in europe by miles is in germany. Some of the higher profile Dutch games have also a good atmosphere. I'm luck enough to get toa lot of games throughout Europe. But if you want to sample football hysteria go to a match in Brazil or Argentina.
The cost of entry is much more agreeable to the working class and a lot less corporate stuff so you get the real fans going. RK called it yeasts ago to many of the prawn sandwich brigade go to epl games and too much political correctness. You can't stand you can't sing you can't chant without the fear of offending someone and getting a stadium ban.

3.) 06 Jan 2016
06 Jan 2016 23:38:09
celtic v rangers .
been 20 years to scared to go back .

{Ed007's Note - Rangers fans had that effect on people, especially the female version. Come up to Glasgow and mention 'liquidation' if you want to know REAL fear ;)

4.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 00:04:18
In the late 80s early 90 s those old firm games were fantastic. It's very different now I think it got to a stage 7 or 8 years ago that the players on both sides didn't realise or know just what it meant to the fans I think there was hardly a scots man on the field apart from the ref.

5.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 00:06:01
You should try Scunthorpe United v Grimsby Town, always a full house :-)

{Ed007's Note - I'd probably enjoy that, Hamilton v Motherwell games can get a bit tasty. For anyone going to Germany I'd recommend going to a St Pauli match, especially if it's a lads only trip.}

6.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 00:11:11
Actually the higher attendances are mainly due to there being more larger grounds which were built for the 2006 World Cup, teams like Bournemouth, QPR, Fulham over the years drag the averages down. Almost every Prem game is a sellout.

{Ed007's Note - Well there's no worries then, the 'best league in the world' will be better attended than the Bundesliga when West Ham move - phew that was close!}

7.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 00:36:49
I'very always liked Dortmund as a club. Haven't they got one of the highest average attendances in europe? The ground is absolutely rocking whenever I see it. Regarding lads only football matches I've heard Hamburg is good too for after match entertainment.

{Ed007's Note - St Pauli are in Hamburg right there in the Reeperbahn and have nicer fans, Hamburg are a bit..... right wing shall we say - and that's me being polite. I've been to a few Dortmund games over the years and it is different class, every football fan should try and get to a Dortmund game once in their life}

8.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 00:56:54
Yes ed the reeperbahn. My father in law who was a petty officer in the navy told me a few stories (quietly) about it. I should have known St pauli were in hamburg too. I'm also surprised your taking the time to answer at this time tonight, very impressed anyway off to bed, wife + 2 children. not much chance of a wander down the reeperbahn now in my lifetime.

{Ed007's Note - I'm a nighthawk, I'm always around at this time while all the other lazy sod Eds are in their w@nking chariots. Goodnight buddy.}

9.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 01:51:21
Old firm games have died out since the 90's and early 00's which is sad as it was easily one of the best atmospheric matches you could attend in Europe. Been to more than I can count and have loved them all.

Once when I was sunning it up in Greece a few holidaymakers and myself attended an Olympiakos v Panathinaikos game and I was honestly very intimidated when it came to leaving the ground. Most of the match was unwatchable because of smoke created by flares and the police were raiding the crowd every five minutes. Talk about intense rivalry.

{Ed007's Note - I don't miss the Old Firm games, Scotland's a much nicer place without them and I'd be happy if Celtic never had to face any reincarnation of Rangers ever again.}

10.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 02:08:24
Without Rangers the Scottish league is boring 007. It would be the same without Celtic. As much as both loathe each other they both need one another to prosper. I would love nothing more than to see them both in the PL but it will never happen because the powers at be in England are scared of the super powers they would both become.

{Ed007's Note - It's not been boring for me or the fans of other clubs who are suddenly playing on an even field and living within their means.. with no cheating or financial doping. Aberdeen and Hearts fans are having a great time and I know Accies are reaping the benefits of staying in the SPFL. Inverness and Falkirk supporters didn't seem too bored at last season's Scottish Cup final either.

If Celtic and Rangers need each other to prosper then why did Rangers not prosper, they went bust instead? That doesn't work out does it? I think Celtic have prospered considering the financial shenanigans that were going on for years at their main rivals. Imagine the team Utd could have if they didn't pay taxes.

And I would hate to see Celtic in the EPL, why would I want to see my club participate in something that I think is a sham built on TV money and one of the major problems in football?}

11.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 03:41:42
Because if Celtic were in the EPL they would face some decent competition and attract better players than Boeriggter and Ambrose. They would have a good chance of winning significant silverware every season and maybe even possibly repeat the feat of the Lisbon Lions. I would bet my mortgages on it that most Celtic fans if given the choice would jump at the chance to play EPL football.

I have many, many friends who are Celtic fans who openly admit that Scottish football is dire without the other half of the Old Firm. As for the tax dodging and EBTs etc, yes it happened (a lot of teams done it actually) and Rangers got caught. They have been adequately punished and accepted thier punishment similar to Juventus during thier match fixing scandal now life goes on. But anyway this is the Man Utd page so we shall not get into all that mumbo jumbo!

12.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 09:05:44
The championship has a pretty decent following as well!

13.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 16:00:36
Just throwing this out there but surely 'highest attendances' figures should be as a % of total seats filled through the season, I am sure that Bournemouth could be selling double the number of tickets than they are currently doing if they had a bigger stadium. The 2003 figure above is also quite interesting, around the same sort of era as we had Leeds, Middlesborough and some other 'big clubs'

14.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 21:58:45
I remember seeing some data from a few years ago about dortmunds attendance figures. They were being classed as the best supported club in Europe. If I remember correctly they have a capacity of 82,000 ish and that specific season their average attendance was 81,500 ish with their lowest attendance being just over 80,000.

As for the EPL. Well it is just not as well attended as some would like to believe. Some of the f this is due to costs of tickets, look at Arsenal, some of it is due to sudden influx of money without a proper 'fan base' for the rough times, look at Chelsea under rainieri, some of it is due to the competitive nature of the championship and the ability for teams with smaller infrastructure to get promoted, such as Bournemouth.

However I believe the biggest problem is the almost arrogant nature of teams who have small relative success. A great example being Portsmouth. Remember their plans for the 'floating' stadium? A few years of decent positions and cup runs and they start planning one of the most revolutionary stadiums concepts ever for something like 60,000 people. Absolutely ridiculous.

Anyway I'm rambling.

Their are much more leagues with a much lower max capacity per season with many more passionate fans than the EPL. The EPL is just the best at advertising themselves.

15.) 07 Jan 2016
07 Jan 2016 23:13:22
A bit late to the party, but hey. Ed007, I think it depends what stats you use when saying one league has better attendances than another. Bundesliga, for example, has higher average attendances, but Premier League teams fill their stadia more. Off the top of my head, last season PL teams filled around 96% of available seats, whereas Bundesliga teams only filled around 91%.

{Ed007's Note - No it doesn't depend what stats you use, you use the number of people that go to games. The clue's in the name... ATTENDANCE - The number of people present at a particular place or event.}

16.) 08 Jan 2016
08 Jan 2016 10:02:18
The OP stated that only Germany compares to England with regards to how full the stadia appear on TV, and you disagreed with his phrasing. As I stated and proved above, the OP was correct in his assertion as the BPL has a higher average attendance expressed as a percentage of capacity (96% vs 91% approx. ) . Had he have said, 'more people go to Bundesliga matches', you would've been correct, but he didn't.

{Ed007's Note - But the average attendance figure is lower, you're trying to twist thing to suit yourself and now you look foolish. Where does the OP mention anything about percentages, we're talking about the number of people who go to matches.
BTW a higher percentage of the Scottish population attend football matches than in England.}

17.) 08 Jan 2016
08 Jan 2016 22:24:46
Who's discussing anything about a country's general population?!

The OP states their observation that stadia in other countries don't look full, at least not in the games on TV. Therefore, the statistic that relates to their original query isn't simply how many people attend a match, but the average attendance as a percentage of the ground's capacity, or more simply put, how full a stadium is, with 100% being a sellout, 50% meaning the ground was half full etc. In regard to this stat, the Bundesliga is slightly behind the PL in terms of its ability to fill grounds.

And as for your comment on Scottish football, you may be right, but the Faroe Islands has the highest total spectator average as a percentage of their population (10% of their country attend professional football matches, vs Scotland's 3.8% and England's 2.4%) .

{Ed007's Note - Statistics Norway reports that the amount of waste generated by Norway's leather industry remained virtually the same at around 3,000 tonnes a year in the period from 2007 to 20013.}