"Clubs like..." - Ally McCoist makes Sheffield United, Sunderland fan point after FA Cup attendance "shock"

As most of their fellow clubs began their FA Cup journey over the weekend, Sheffield United’s players could put their feet up and watch on with their hopes of Wembley glory later in the season already over. The Blades tumbled out of the competition at the first stage last week, losing 1-0 to Cardiff City with just over 6,000 fans inside Bramall Lane.

A number of factors played a part, including the terrible weather throughout the week, the forecast of biting temperatures and the prospect of two second-string sides doing battle in a repeat of the final 100 years earlier. United were far from the only side to experience a drop in attendance over the weekend, with only 15.744 at Sunderland for their extra-time defeat to Stoke City, but 35,584 packed into Elland Road for their third-round tie against neighbours - and League Two strugglers - Harrogate Town.

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Stoke boss Mark Robins highlighted the Stadium of Light crowd afterwards, asking: “Where are the people? I understand the cost of things and it must be really biting. The cold is biting, the finances are biting. It isn’t good. It’s really worrying and sad. I’ve seen there’s been empty stadia up and down the country and it’s not good. This stadium normally has 50,000 people in it and absolutely rocking so it’s a bit of a surprise. Thank you to everyone who came because that’s really important, and particularly our supporters.”

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And the issue was also discussed on Talksport this morning, by pundit Jeff Stelling and former Sunderland and Scotland striker Ally McCoist. “Well, it is slightly alarming,” Stelling admitted. “I think the FA Cup, you know, tends to have been in decline for some time now. And by the way, there were a lot of big crowds at the weekend, a lot of big crowds at the weekend. But there were one or two, I think, Sheffield United on the Thursday night, that was a shock, 6,000 or so, Fulham against Watford as well, that was a low crowd.”

McCoist added: “I take Mark's point, particularly with clubs like Sheffield United and Sunderland who are renowned for having a fantastic support. But he's also right to mention a couple of things. It's very, very expensive for families nowadays to live, never mind enjoy the comfort of going to games of football with kids and things like that. But it's something you need to keep an eye on.”

The Blades return to Championship action this weekend at home to Norwich City, where the crowd will be much closer to the 28,070 average attendance this season that sees United fourth in the list of best-supported clubs in the division. Sunderland are top of that particular table, with a remarkable average crowd of just over 40,000 cheering on Regis Le Bris’ side in their promotion push.