Burnley FC's average attendance at Turf Moor now compared to 10 years ago | OneFootball

The Turf Moor faithful have been lucky to see top-flight football down the years, but there isn't a great difference in attendances now to then

Few Burnley fans would wish to rewind the clock 10 years when their team were battling it out at the foot of the Premier League on their way to relegation.

In fact, it took Burnley until November 8th that season to get their first win, so exactly 10 years ago, they were still winless in that campaign, but that didn't necessarily stop the fans from believing, most of whom believed Sean Dyche would keep them up.

He ultimately failed in that quest, and Burnley have since spent time yo-yoing between the Premier League and Championship, but most Burnley fans would acknowledge that that's a level they're comfortable competing at.

Before promotion in 2008/09, the Clarets had never kicked a ball in the Premier League, and that promotion campaign showcased the pull the football club has in the town, when over 30,000 Burnley fans made the trip down to Wembley to watch them beat Sheffield United 1-0 in the play-off final.

For context, in 2009, the borough of Burnley had a population of less than 90,000 people, which would hint that almost one in three people made the journey to Wembley, so the value of this football club to the local people can never be underestimated.

Burnley are better supported now than they were 10 years ago in the Premier League

Data would suggest they are

According to Transfermarkt, Burnley's average attendance in 2014/15 was 19,131, as opposed to 20,010 this season.

That's made all the more surprising by the fact the lower of the two seasons came in the Premier League, but there are some mitigating factors to be taken into account.

It's far easier to support a club when you're likely to win more often than not, which Burnley are this season, so it's not a massive surprise that they're attracting bigger crowds in that sense, as the Premier League season saw the Clarets naturally suffer a lot more defeats.

That said, Premier League teams also tend to fill their away ends a lot more than Championship teams do, so when Burnley had small away followings this season from Cardiff, Plymouth and QPR, it is surprising to see that average still above the 20,000 mark.

Incredibly, this season so far has yielded Burnley's highest-ever average attendance in the Championship, despite some fans bemoaning the brand of football.

Vincent Kompany may have played a role in helping Burnley fans fall back in love

Despite his exit, the numbers suggest that's the case

The data would suggest he did play a part in that, although after his bitter departure to Bayern Munich, perhaps not many Burnley fans would admit to that being true.

After Burnley's 2009/10 and 2014/15 relegation campaigns, there was a noticeable drop-off in attendances the season after, with the average dropping by almost 6,000 in 2010 and 3000 in 2015.

You'd be forgiven for expecting that to be the case in 2022 too, after relegation, but instead, Burnley's average attendance rose by almost 1500, which it would be fair to say is largely due to the appointment of Vincent Kompany and the excitement factor that came with it.

Even after his departure, and in the midst of a truly awful Premier League campaign that he was to blame for, the fans still kept coming because they bought into project Kompany as his brand of football saw fans fall back in love with the club.

It wouldn't be a great surprise to see that number drop off again in the not too distant future amid ticket prices being hiked at Turf Moor.

That's something most Burnley fans hoped they wouldn't see, but something the club believed was reasonable as it was “well below” the rate of inflation.

Burnley chairman Alan Pace may find out the hard way that when you try and price a working-class town out of coming to watch the one thing that keeps them going in life, you'll eventually face a revolt, so if the Clarets fail to get promoted this season, then it wouldn't be a great surprise to see those figures drop to 2015/16 Championship levels of around 17,000.