Middlesbrough's average attendance compared to Championship rivals this season
How do Boro's crowds compare to their Championship rivals this season?
Middlesbrough return to the Riverside Stadium this weekend to host Portsmouth, and they have serious work to do if they’re to keep their automatic promotion hopes alive.
Kim Hellberg’s men are winless in their last five games, picking up just three points during that time, in a run that’s seen them slip to third on goal difference behind Ipswich Town, who have two games in hand.
Boro travel to the Tractor Boys next weekend, but must first get past John Mousinho’s Portsmouth, who are battling relegation but have come up with late equalisers against Norwich and Oxford in their last two.
The Riverside will be packed and the crowd vital to Boro’s chances on Saturday, but how has that crowd compared to their Championship rivals this season?
Middlesbrough average crowd compared to Championship rivals
- Coventry City - 30,142
- Leicester City - 29,084
- Derby County - 28,339
- Southampton - 28,235
- Ipswich Town - 28,174
- Sheffield United - 27,780
- Middlesbrough - 27,779
- Birmingham City - 27,287
- Norwich City - 25,852
- Stoke City - 24,322
- West Brom - 23,682
- Sheffield Wednesday - 23,371
- Bristol City - 23,218
- Hull City - 21,185
- Charlton Athletic - 20,112
- Portsmouth - 20,085
- Watford - 18,592
- Millwall - 17,006
- QPR - 16,787
- Swansea City - 16,621
- Preston North End - 16,601
- Blackburn Rovers - 14,477
- Oxford United - 11,051
- Wrexham - 10,663
Only six teams have pulled higher crowds than Middlesbrough this season, two of which are above them in the table: Coventry City and Ipswich Town.
Boro could still improve their 27,779 average attendance, with the Riverside’s 34,742 capacity the second-biggest in the Championship behind Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough. However, their crowds this season are the biggest they’ve managed since the 2016/17 campaign - the last time they were in the Premier League, drawing 30,449 per week.
Kim Hellberg paid tribute to the Boro fans in the build-up to Saturday’s clash with Portsmouth, praising them for sticking behind the Teessiders despite their recent tough run of results.
"The supporters I have met have been brilliant, so proud of the team, proud of how we play, and they have been so supportive," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees.
"Overall, it might sound weird, but what I get from everyone is a lot of affection for how we play, how we act, how the team has created opportunities. And mainly the last thing everyone says is it has to turn and that's where you still believe, but you have to make it turn, and that's what we're trying to do."
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