SO THAT’S WHY HULL CROWDS DON’T ADD UP

IN THE column last week, I gave Hull City’s average attendance in the Championship as 15,826. And that is the official figure.

Matthew Rudd at the Amber Nectar podcast, however, has helpfully pointed me in the direction of a Freedom of Information request submitted in August, showing the true toll taken by relegation and the conflict between Hull fans and owners the Allam family.

This shows that while 15,504 was the announced attendance against Bolton on August 25, the actual gate was 12,834, with 898 travelling from Bolton. Against Wolves on August 15, the actual attendance was 14,459, not the 17,284 given — and 1,358 of those were away fans. If this has carried on throughout the season, Hull are inflating their gate by roughly 20 per cent each week.

A ground that is one fifth closed — the Upper West Stand isn’t currently open — is now barely half full. Even if the official figures were accurate this would still be Hull’s poorest average since 2002-03, when they were in the fourth tier.

Of course, there is no rule that says crowd figures have to be accurate. Clubs are entitled to include seasonticket holders whether they turn up or not — the ticket has, after all, been sold — and Hull would not be the first to brazenly overstate their popularity. Manchester City, in the days of Peter Swales, were famous for it.

However, Hull’s numbers do rather make a mockery of the Allams’ dismissive attitude towards supporters during the Hull Tigers debacle. If fans really are so irrelevant, why not be honest about how many have been lost over a misguided, baseless spat?