Crowds flock to EFL games
Lee is learning from European adventure
THE EFL enjoyed a remarkable opening weekend with an aggregate attendance of 449,870 across all three divisions.
That is the best in 13 years and was up 17 per cent on last year.
Newly promoted Sunderland got 40,851 fans at the Stadium of Light for their 1-1 draw with Coventry which beat last year’s highest attendance in the Championship.
It means the Championship could again be on course to be the third most watched league in Europe.
UEFA did a study in 2018 – the last year before attendances were impacted by the pandemic – and only the Premier League and Bundesliga enjoyed bigger crowds.
The Championship got 11,086,368, Bundesliga 12,703,896 and the
Premier League was top with 13,607,420.
Sunderland’s attendance helped make a total of 220,087 in the Championship, which is an average of 18,341 – up 13 per cent on last year’s opening weekend.
Three League One fixtures got more than 25,000 with Derby v Oxford pulling in 31,053, Sheffield Wednesday v Portsmouth 26,901 and Ipswich v Bolton 26,688.
Total
In League One, average attendance increased 11 per cent to 12,407, with a total of 148,878 match-going spectators.
And League Two saw the largest average rise of 53 per cent (6,742) compared to 2021-22, registering a total attendance of 80,905.
deeper into Europe that Shamrock Rovers go this summer, the steeper the learning curve.
And as Lee Grace can testify to, teams need the wherewithal to absorb those lessons if they have designs on surviving and making the most of the experience.
Get through this Europa League third qualifying round against FK Shkupi and the Hoops will, at worst, be guaranteed group stage football in the Conference League.
Tamely
They need no more motivation, even if Stephen Bradley insists they are not on a revenge mission after crashing out so tamely in the Conference playoffs last year.
“You can’t think or play like that in football as you don’t learn then,” said the Hoops boss yesterday.
“It’s about learning and moving on quickly, and making sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Mistakes in Europe will be punished in the blink of an eye, and while Rovers might get away with them at home, they have already paid the price in this company.
Take the Ludogorets game in Bulgaria a fortnight ago and a moment that Grace says just “shocks you into life”.
After steadying the ship in the secondhalf having feared the worst in the first, Shamrock Rovers were 2-0 down in injury-time and had something to cling to.
But instead of clearing a freekick from deep in their own half, Grace played short and, with seconds to go, the
Hoops got caught and Ludogorets scored a third.
Yes, the League of Ireland champions threw everything at their rivals in Tallaght a week ago and were deserving 2-1 winners in the second leg.
But the outlook had changed in that split second decision and Grace knows you can only ride your luck so many times.
It is why he is calling for a dominant home display tonight so that Rovers can travel to North Macedonia with something to protect rather than chase on Tuesday.
Reflecting on that moment in Bulgaria, Grace said yesterday: “It was naive of me — and the team — not to just kick it long. But it’s something you learn from.
“For a few days after that I was kicking myself. Not just because I played the free but us in general as a team, someone had to say ‘kick it long’.
“I didn’t know what was left. Hindsight is a great thing and looking back now, if I knew there was 30 seconds left I would have kicked it.
Seconds
“If you do that in the league, nine times out of ten you probably get away with it. But Ludogorets turned it over and the ball was in the net within 20 seconds.
“In Europe, it shocks you into life because they punish you fairly quickly.”
But the more European games that Rovers play, the more street smarts they accrue in a short space of time.
Grace said: “We played Slovan Bratislava last year, another top side and they punished us over there (2-0) with silly mistakes.
“But back in Tallaght, we dominated the game again (winning 2-1).
“When we’re going away in
CHRIS McCANN has been hailed as a calming influence in Europe. The former Burnley captain (35) has had to be patient this season, featuring in just 11 league games for Shamrock Rovers.
But he has started all four European matches this term with Stephen Bradley playing him in central midfield alongside Gary O’Neill, rather than it being one or the other.
“Just in certain games, especially in Europe, you need that
Europe we have to be more careful in what we’re doing and cut out the silly mistakes because we fancy anyone in Tallaght.
“There are not too many teams who play us off the park in Tallaght, we put it up to most teams, so we have to make home advantage count tonight.”
Former army man Grace (29) was a latecomer to full-time football having joined the Hoops in 2017 from Galway United.
And that is why group stage football this summer would mean so much for the decorated Tipperary man.
“You could probably say I’m playing catch-up, given I started so late,” he continued. “I don’t regret that decision, leaving the army. Probably the best decision I ever made.
“I enjoyed my time in the little bit more protection,” said Bradley. “In these games it can be really hectic, a hundred miles an hour, and Chris brings that calmness you get when you’ve played at the level he has played at.
Games
“Sometimes in these games you need someone just to make you play, for everyone to settle. Chris brings that to us.” army, but I’ve definitely enjoyed my time here a lot more. I’ve won a lot of things and hopefully there’s a lot more to win.
“A few of the boys in the squad have played group stages with Dundalk and obviously Ronan Finn with Rovers in 2011.
Dream
“Them talking about it, it sounds unbelievable and when you’re in the European competitions, that’s your dream, to get there.
“You can’t lose focus on the teams in front of you, but looking further down the line if we do get there it would be a great experience and one I’d love to do.
“We have to take care of this tie first and then see what happens, but it would be unbelievable.”
Defender Lee Grace said: “You could give Chris the ball in a phonebox and he wouldn’t lose it.
“As a defender you’re looking for midfielders. Gary and Chris are always showing for the ball and you can give it to them as they very rarely lose it.”
Meanwhile, Rovers could fly directly to Derry or Belfast from North Macedonia after next Tuesday’s Europa League second leg with FK Shkupi.
The Hoops face Derry City at the