Dean Smith watched his Aston Villa side scorch to a 4-2 derby day victory over Birmingham City in front of 41,200 people in the Championship yesterday afternoon, but was that bumper crowd at Villa Park enough to rocket the Villans to the top of the attendance table in the second tier of English football?
Some huge clubs currently ply their trade in the Championship and Villa alongside Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Derby County all attract huge crowds for their home games, but which club is on top of the pile?
Well, that monster crowd watching the Second City Derby last night propelled Villa to the top of the pile as they have an average home attendance of 33,552. Second in the attendance table are Leeds United, who have on average 32,819 at each Elland Road clash, while Nottingham Forest are third in the table, but are a long way behind the aforementioned heavyweight duo.
Forest have an average of 27,646 supporters at their home matches with Derby County (26,255) and Norwich City (25,266) completing the top-five in the list.
Villa have the honour of having the highest crowd of the season as 41,326 watched Villa's 1-0 win over Swansea City, which saw the passionate fans welcome new boss Dean Smith to the club, and the Villa manager and fan will certainly enjoy performing his managerial talents in front of bumper Villa Park crowds as his former side Brentford are 23rd in the list with the Bees only having an average attendance of 10,046.
Bottom of the pile is Rotherham United, who are the only club to record four-figure crowds on average (9,538), but they are always going to struggle to compete with some of the huge clubs in the Championship.
Check out where your club ranks in the list of average Championship attendances:
Aston Villa - 33,552
Leeds United - 32,819
Nottingham Forest - 27,646
Derby County - 26,255
Norwich City - 25,266
Sheffield United - 25,158
Stoke City - 24,238
West Brom - 23,849
Sheffield Wednesday - 23,661
Middlesbrough - 22,720
Birmingham City - 21,968
Bristol City - 20,876
Swansea City - 19,333
Ipswich Town - 18,020
Blackburn Rovers - 14,342
Preston North End - 14,060
Reading - 14,047
Bolton Wanderers -14,034
Millwall - 13,890
Queens Park Rangers - 13,730
Hull City - 11,618
Wigan Athletic - 11,120
Brentford - 10,046
Rotherham United - 9,538
