Our fanbase

[John Wolves Fan]

Sorry if this has already been done but just interested in other Wolves fans opinions on how big our fanbase is compared to other premier league teams?

Which teams in the premier league have bigger, the same, or less of a following than us do you reckon?

Also, in terms of the Midlands teams how would you rate our following (home and away) compared to the other Midland clubs?

In J Lo we trust!

 

[Pengwern]

There are wuite a few up here in Greater Manchester, including in the village/town where I live

 

[DasWolf]

Not sure it's quite answering the question, but I think the Wolves fan base is one of the most passionate out there, and it's far from uncommon to hear away support loud and clear on the footage.

 

[inaglasshouse]

I think it's generally under estimated, especially by supporters of other clubs. In my experience, football is often followed in families, fathers, sons, grandsons and of course now increasingly daughters etc. And because we had our dominant decade in the 50's when we were one of the very top teams in England if not Europe then we have many more supporters than people realise and of course we had a relatively good team for later periods too in the 60's and 70's.
I would say for every active supporter there is at least 5 others, even locally that don't attend and more around the country and world even, because of that past success and the fan line running through families.
I don't doubt for a second that with a similar level of success again e.g regular top 5 finishes we could absolutely sell out a 50k stadium just like the other top teams do now. I think that puts us in the top 10 clubs in England and on a par with the villa locally as much as they currently would never admit it. But I bet their grand parents having actually witnessed it surely would.
I expect fosun did some analysis on the true fan base and potential before buying us and I imagine they reached a similar conclusion.
I think the main problem with expressing this in reality, with a new ground is the location and transition if it was still at Molineux, that and of course the current financial rules that make it so much more difficult to succeed on the pitch.

 

[John Wolves Fan]

Interesting points. Thank you.

Sounds like there might be a general view that the size of our fanbase is underestimated then?

 

[Stourport wolf]

Our club badge is iconic and instantly recognisable. There are very few clubs in the UK, where this is the case.
Our colours are also a thing of beauty and our name Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, is steeped with history.

 

[reanswolf]

We always have this discussion about how big a ground we could regularly fill in the top flight. I think 40,000 is adequate others think 50,000.

Villa in terms of support IMO are 20% bigger than us, and I think we are 10% bigger than Blues and Albion and Stoke. I wouldn’t like to separate the potential support size of Wolves , Forest, Derby and Leicester.

We certainly have the catchment area with the 4 Black Country boroughs totalling over a million people plus another half a million around Staffs and Shropshire where we are the local club - Cannock, Stafford, Telford predominantly but lots of smaller towns and villages. And also a sizeable chunk of support from Worcs and Gloucs.

Being out of the top flight for so long really damaged us at the expense locally of Albion, but now you feel the pendulum is swinging back strongly.

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

We always have this discussion about how big a ground we could regularly fill in the top flight. I think 40,000 is adequate others think 50,000.

Villa in terms of support IMO are 20% bigger than us, and I think we are 10% bigger than Blues and Albion and Stoke. I wouldn’t like to separate the potential support size of Wolves , Forest, Derby and Leicester.

We certainly have the catchment area with the 4 Black Country boroughs totalling over a million people plus another half a million around Staffs and Shropshire where we are the local club - Cannock, Stafford, Telford predominantly but lots of smaller towns and villages. And also a sizeable chunk of support from Worcs and Gloucs.

Being out of the top flight for so long really damaged us at the expense locally of Albion, but now you feel the pendulum is swinging back strongly.

Don't forget the 4 or 5 on here from Yorkshire!

 

[John Wolves Fan]

Keeping Albion out the top division is certainly doing us no harm in keeping our numbers above theirs in the near future and beyond hopefully.

 

[reanswolf]

Don't forget the 4 or 5 on here from Yorkshire!

We do have a lot of support from out of the area, a mixture of ex-wulfrunians who made the mistake of leaving Gods Own Country, and lunatics who just plumped for the gold and black -.

 

[Chriswwfc]

I’ve always been surprised at where I see a wolves top.
Love it.

 

[cannockwolves]

With the arrival of Sky and international TV/streaming deals it's becoming increasingly hard question to answer. As we regularly get 99% capacity/attendance the club haven't had to think about actually selling match day tickets, even with a 50k ground cheap tickets, sales promotions, direct marketing there is a large enough geographical area to sell the extra 8-10k tickets over and above what I consider our base level (35k plus 5k away).

A 50k ground would not be full every week for the Fulham or Southampton type games but for Liverpool, City, Villa, Arsenal, Spurs, United type games even a 50 ground would be a sell out.

Personally, I think a 45k ground is a good enough. It protects the downside a bit, but gives a bit more financial strength as long as we stay in the prem.

 

[John Wolves Fan]

Some good points although I'm not sure how people who have paid top dollar would react if people were getting cheap tickets so we can fill the ground.

The real test would be how much support we would get with pricing similar to it is at the moment but all around the ground if we had a much bigger capacity.

 

[Axle]

I live in Loughborough and sitting in a cafe and a gorgeous woman walks past.

A minute later, a guy in a Wolves shirt walks past, absolutely steaming drunk, walks up to me and my mate and says:

‘l’d buy that for a dollar!’

Maximum points for being a Wolves fan in Loughborough.

Bonus points for the RoboCop reference!

 

[Beijing Wolf]

I live in Loughborough and sitting in a cafe and a gorgeous woman walks past.

A minute later, a guy in a Wolves shirt walks past, absolutely steaming drunk, walks up to me and my mate and says:

‘l’d buy that for a dollar!’

Maximum points for being a Wolves fan in Loughborough.

Bonus points for the RoboCop reference!

I hope you replied

“Your move creep.”

 

[lostwolf]

Bigger than Blues, Stoke, Coventry and Albion. About the same as Derby, Forest and Leicester, they're all county clubs with decent sized cities and little competition for their support except for the usual glory chasing ****ers. Probably 15%ish smaller than Villa?

Like others have said, we've got quite a good spread of support. Obviously Wolverhampton, half the BC, and lots of Shropshire. Then we have quite a lot of support from Staffordshire and the west part of Worcestershire like Kiddy and Worcester. But a lot of clubs are like that, Villa for example have some support going out towards Northamptonshire and obviously Warwickshire and bits of Staffordshire. Leeds have almost all of West Yorkshire (Bradford City don't take much off them, and Wakefield is about the same size as Wolverhampton and doesn't have a football club) and a lot of North Yorkshire.

 

[EastDorsetWolf]

We do have a lot of support from out of the area, a mixture of ex-wulfrunians who made the mistake of leaving Gods Own Country, and lunatics who just plumped for the gold and black -.

Say hello to a lunatic!

 

[bilstonwolf]

Anecdotally growing up in North London Wolves were one of the more noticeable 'random' teams. You'd see wolves shirts occasionally at school or at the 5 aside pitches, don't think I ever saw any Albion but you'd get a few Villa or Leeds.

 

[JadeWolf]

It’s definitely increasing across the Black Country. Places that were 75/25 Albion are now more 60/40.

 

[John Wolves Fan]

After today's results it will hopefully mean even less baggies in the future.

 

[Peszkywolf]

Funny how many Wolves fans you see in random places, abroad or distant part of the country. But then maybe we notice each other just like every other club?

Think we'd struggle to fill a 45k ground especially with our new prices, understandable as we lost a generation and their kids in the 80s.

Think we've got decent away support, not great like we did have, and tbh the west Mids clubs generally travel in numbers and louder than most. Just think the closed shop away tickets has contributed to us having an older crowd, but sometimes surprisingly really good and loud, seems better going north.

 

[reanswolf]

It’s definitely increasing across the Black Country. Places that were 75/25 Albion are now more 60/40.

Good to hear Jade. That’s what I hoped had happened in places like Wednesbury where I think you are from.

 

[JadeWolf]

Good to hear Jade. That’s what I hoped had happened in places like Wednesbury where I think you are from.

Yeah, absolutely. I think Albion and Villa being poor for the last few years has helped. Plus the Wolves Foundation do a lot of work in schools round here.

 

[reanswolf]

Surprised Sandwell schools allow Wolves in, but it’s great to hear.

 

[JadeWolf]

Surprised Sandwell schools allow Wolves in, but it’s great to hear.

Think the CPD and sports programme they offer is better than Albion’s.

 

[WWFC4EVA]

Plenty of Wolves support round my neck of the woods (Warwick). Match going hard-core supporters and armchair supporters.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Some good points although I'm not sure how people who have paid top dollar would react if people were getting cheap tickets so we can fill the ground.

The real test would be how much support we would get with pricing similar to it is at the moment but all around the ground if we had a much bigger capacity.

As a season ticket holder, I'd have no problem with heavily discounted or free promotional tickets on a match by match basis.

My seat is guaranteed for the season, for every match, that's what I'm paying for. The convenience of knowing all I have to do is show up and swipe my card.

If the ground was so big, the club had to give tickets away to local schools and the unemployed, I would actually encourage it. Kids are the future, the club should nurture them. Fans fallen upon hard times are fans nonetheless.

Wouldn't bother me.

 

[John Wolves Fan]

Yeah can't say I disagree with you and would be nice to get the future of the club in although I'm not sure everyone would be so pleased with people getting heavily discounted tickets.

I might be wide of the mark though...

 

[Stourport wolf]

Keeping Albion out the top division is certainly doing us no harm in keeping our numbers above theirs in the near future and

Bigger than Blues, Stoke, Coventry and Albion. About the same as Derby, Forest and Leicester,

As someone who has lived most of his life outside the Midlands, I have never met a Forest, Derby or Leicester fan who wasn't born in their corresponding counties. I meet Wolves fans, wherever I have lived and quite a few.
Sometimes, with respect, I find that some people who have lived all their lives near Wolverhampton, completely underestimate Wolves national and international support, often from people who have no links to the Midlands, apart from supporting our famous football club.

 

[lostwolf]

As someone who has lived most of his life outside the Midlands, I have never met a Forest, Derby or Leicester fan who wasn't born in their corresponding counties. I meet Wolves fans, wherever I have lived and quite a few.
Sometimes, with respect, I find that some people who have lived all their lives near Wolverhampton, completely underestimate Wolves national and international support, often from people who have no links to the Midlands, apart from supporting our famous football club.

On Derby and Leicester I agree, not on Forest though... like Everton and Leeds (and us) you find them all over.

I've lived in Redditch, all over Brum and around, Southampton, Bournemouth, Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Colchester, London, Southend, Gateshead and Sheffield. I'm Lostwolf on here for a reason! You're right, you find us everywhere, but when looking at our fanbase and trying to estimate it relative to other clubs I think it's more important we have a few hundred odd from Cannock that actually go to games than the three fans I used to see around Southend?

In Sheffield I've only met one other Wolf in three years and he's a mature student from Bloxwich. We do have more fans than most clubs our size outside the area though, I guess due to the 50s/70s glorychaser fans and their spawn! There's a London Wolves older lad I've seen on the train with two Wolves face/neck tats and a ****ney accent!

 

[BCWolf]

Farther afield, in all my years in Vancouver and Victoria I have never met, let alone seen an Albion supporter. Wolves on the other hand, seen plenty, young and old. Villa too, sadly.

A short vignette. My youngest daughter's football team has a young keeper from Chile and she wears a Wolves top as her kit. I asked her how and why she followed Wolves and she said an ex-boyfriend from Alberta was a supporter. I asked her if he was from Wolvo and she said no, he was from Scotland!

We're ****ing everywhere.

 

[Fenrir_]

We're ****ing everywhere!

Will never forget being at qualifying for the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix, sat at Pouhon corner on the hill with my dad when some Brits came and sat behind us and started talking. One talking about how he'd got a new business contact on the flight and could meet potential business contacts anywhere, then his mate piped up "what I can't get over is wherever you go, you bump into other Wolves fans". Out came my membership card "You mean like this??!!"

In terms of numbers we can get at a game we're obviously not as big as some and right now I think probably 40k is where we could be, but when you look at the wider fan base we're bigger than quite a few that we're classed as being a similar size to. I'm off to Weymouth next week and I guarantee I'll see more Wolves tops than I'll see the likes of Leicester, either Sheffield side, maybe even (with its relative proximity) Southampton... although they might not be fancying it right now!

 

[reanswolf]

I do think we have a big ‘outside’ fan base, I do acknowledge that, but isn’t this because you just notice Wolves fans when you see them, and in some cases then start to meet up?

In my immediate group in the South Bank we have a London Wolf beside me, 6 from Stafford behind us, and 6 from Coseley to my right.

But 90% in the South Bank are from the West Midlands I would say

 

[Berlin Wolf]

Don't forget the 4 or 5 on here from Yorkshire!

Friend of mine lives in Brighouse, travels home and away to every game, has a season ticket in the North Bank.
I often meet him, occasionally others from Yorkshire as well, at Manchester Piccadilly when I attend, we travel down to Wolves together.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

I do think we have a big ‘outside’ fan base, I do acknowledge that, but isn’t this because you just notice Wolves fans when you see them, and in some cases then start to meet up?

In my immediate group in the South Bank we have a London Wolf beside me, 6 from Stafford behind us, and 6 from Coseley to my right.

But 90% in the South Bank are from the West Midlands I would say

TBF I notice Villa fans a lot too, it's automatic now, I'm constantly scanning for;
a) claret and blue
b) arrogance
c) delusion
d) early 80's fashion

I sometimes walk past them in the street and can hear they've collared some poor mug "excuse me sir, I'd like to talk to you about 1982".

They're footballs answer to Jehovah's Witnesses!

You should remain vigilant at all times and always look both ways when crossing the road to avoid them.

 

[Dragonwolf]

When i moved to Stafford 25 years ago it was very Stokie but now massively Wolves

 

[Huge of Sharjah]

I’ve always been surprised at where I see a wolves top.
Love it.

.

Was recently in Boracay (Philippines) lumbering along the powdery white sandy shoreline (almost 'where the warm crystal clear azure waves gently lapped against my toes') sporting my favourite yoghurt stained ManBetX shirt (now seemingly a 'crop-top') and from the dark recesses of a dingy beach bar I heard the immortal cry of "C'mon me babbies".

Too weak/tired to stop I gave the two Italian looking chaps an embarrassingly pathetic fonzi-esque thumbs-up (along with a genuine grin) and continued squelching my way towards the Korean restaurant of choice and a healthy portion of sea-urchins.

I'm 63.

.

 

[reanswolf]

See loads of Wolves tops around Telford shopping centre, infact many more than even the glory clubs.

Mind you, when me and the lad got the train into Wolves for the Brentford game, there were quite a few Wolves- based Villa fans knocking around. Concurrently, for one game last season at least a dozen Wolves fans got on at Smethwick which surprised me.

 

[Beeches wolf]

There's quite a few fans in Wales, not sure if they are actually Welsh or West midlanders who have relocated there.

 

[Tarcisio Mifsud]

In Malta, we have the second oldest supporters' Club of a foreign team, which was established in the 60s. The largest being that of United. Although in respect of numbers we do not match the big clubs in England and in Italy, I consider we have the biggest number in respect of what one calls "the rest". Supporters of Albions, Forest, B'gham, Leicester, Brighton, Stoke, and other small teams in London are practically non existent.