The average attendance at The Valley so far this season is the lowest since the COVID-affected 2020/21 campaign.
A lot has changed at Charlton Athletic over the last decade.
The Addicks are no longer owned by Roland Duchatelet, and they now play in League One rather than the Championship, but perhaps the biggest indication of how much they have regressed in the last 10 years is the average attendance at The Valley.
In November 2014, Charlton were inside the top ten in the Championship table under the management of Bob Peeters, with the form of new signings Igor Vetokele and Johann Berg Gudmundsson giving supporters a reason to believe that the 2014/15 season could turn out to be a memorable one.
Despite Peeters being sacked a few months later following a poor run of results, the Addicks managed to finish 12th in the second tier, after a respectable season in which players such as Frederic Bulot, Alou Diarra, and even Francis Coquelin had impressed for the South Londoners.
However, instead of pushing on and establishing themselves as a team that could finish in the top-half of the Championship on a regular basis, they were relegated the following year and have spent eight of the nine seasons since in League One.
The average attendance at The Valley during the 2014/15 season compared to now
Charlton’s average attendance in the Championship during the 2014/15 season was 16,708, as per Transfermarkt.com, meaning that more than half of their 27,111 capacity stadium was filled on a consistent basis.
So far this season, the average attendance at The Valley for League One games is 12,453, showing that thousands of fans who regularly attended 10 years ago no longer show their support at home fixtures.
| Average attendances at The Valley (Transfermarkt) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Season | Competition | Average attendance |
| 2024/25 | League One | 12,453 |
| 2023/24 | League One | 13,481 |
| 2022/23 | League One | 13,436 |
| 2021/22 | League One | 15,592 |
| 2020/21 | League One | 217 |
| 2019/20 | Championship | 14,884 |
| 2018/19 | League One | 11,827 |
| 2017/18 | League One | 11,846 |
| 2016/17 | League One | 11,162 |
| 2015/16 | Championship | 15,632 |
| 2014/15 | Championship | 16,708 |
The difference between ten years ago and now could be even bigger if some fans had not been staying away from The Valley in protest of Roland Duchatelet’s ownership during the 2014/15 campaign.
More than 24,500 fans were at The Valley last weekend for the visit of Wrexham, and the 2-2 draw may have enticed some of the new visitors to return for another game before the end of the season, but in every other game so far this season the attendances have been lower than they were on average a decade ago.
The average attendance in SE7 has slowly decreased each season since it was 15,592 during the Addicks’ 2021/22 League One campaign, while it has not been as high as it was 10 years ago.
Charlton Athletic must mount a promotion push in order for their attendances to improve
It sounds obvious, but Charlton needs to improve their performances on the pitch if the average attendance at The Valley is going to increase in the near future.
Their average attendance in the Championship during the 2019/20 season was 14,884, and a number of home games that season were behind closed doors, so it is clear that fans could return if the team played in a higher division.
The Addicks attracted an average of 17,402 spectators during their 2011/12 League One title-winning campaign, in which they accumulated an impressive 101 points, further highlighting that a successful team on the pitch is likely to lure more supporters to The Valley consistently.
Charlton currently find themselves three points outside the play-offs in 11th place in the third tier, so they will need to pick up some good results in their upcoming games if they are going to mount a promotion push this term and bring higher attendances at The Valley.
