Revealed | Over 300,000 supporters missing from London Stadium

Freedom of Information requests made by Claret and Hugh to Newham council have revealed that over 306,000 fans who purchased tickets between August 2023 and January 2025 never turned up to the London Stadium.

The spreadsheet below which lists game by game with the official attendance (tickets sold) against the real attendance (data from the turnstiles shared with Newham council Safety Advisory Board) shows the extent of those who bought a ticket but choose not to turn up.

It reveals for the first time the attendance of the Betway cup last August against Celta De Vigo in which 16,078 attended with many staying away after protesting against a change of concessions policy by the club.

A home against Wolves in December 2023 saw over 17,000 missing despite buying a ticket and this year’s game against Fulham in January was also missing over 17,000 supporters.

A home game against Brentford in February 2024 last year was missing over 21,500 ticket holders.

The best attended Premier League game against Manchester City in September 2023 still saw nearly 4,500 missing from the London Stadium with ticket holders’ seats left empty.

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Graham Potter makes brutally honest West Ham admission amid fan groans

West Ham recorded back-to-back wins for the first time in nearly a year but you wouldn’t have known it from the London Stadium atmosphere.

Leicester City put in one of the most feeble performances seen at the London Stadium for some time.

Besides West Ham over the last 14 months of course.

The Hammers have been dismal until Graham Potter’s arrival.

Things have indisputably improved since the ex Chelsea boss took over from Julen Lopetegui.

Key statistics and metrics are all up.

Performances, on the whole, are much improved, the best being the away win at Arsenal last weekend.

The Hammers have kept back-to-back clean sheets – which have been just as rare as wins since West Ham fell off a cliff following a 2-0 win at the Emirates on December 28th 2023.

Potter has brought new hope, clarity, organisation and a clear identity.

Much of what he has implemented bears some of the hallmarks of the best years of David Moyes’ tenure in that regard.

That is no bad thing given how easy West Ham had become to play against in the last year or so.

Fans expect and want more, though.

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Some fan groans after West Ham wins

After all that is why many wanted to move in a different direction from Moyes in the first place.

That direction has been down as the Hammers got it all wrong with the Lopetegui appointment and summer rebuild.

Potter has got West Ham moving up, one place at least – above Moyes’ Everton.

But it doesn’t yet feel like everyone is totally convinced at the London Stadium.

Now Potter has made a brutally honest West Ham admission amid some fan groans.

Hammers fans are often criticised for being hard to please.

It’s a touch unfair, though. And there is a difference between being demanding and hard to please.

Fans of the likes of Spurs, Villa, Newcastle and even Brighton, Bournemouth and Palace nowadays seem to be perfectly entitled to expect entertaining football and results.

Yet when it is the Hammers, sneering pundits, journalists and rival fans usually resort to mocking the West Ham way.

The simple fact is, West Ham fans want to be entertained.