By Andrew Warshaw
February 13 – It surely won’t happen – or might it? This time last year Leicester City were on their way to becoming the most unlikely champions in English Premier league history, a remarkable feat that reverberated around the globe.
February 5 – Round 24 of Premier League fixtures saw Chelsea, Spurs and Leicester top the attendance capacity table, while Hull matched their resurgence on the pitch with stay-away fans returning to the KCOM.
February 3 – Premier League action returned mid-week after a weekend of FA Cup action, and so did the fans to Burnley and Middlesbrough, though neither sold out their stadiums.
January 31 – All five of London’s Premier League clubs have been caught up in English football’s historical child sex abuse scandal according to police.
January 25 – Arsenal’s Swiss international midfielder Granit Xhaka has been interviewed under caution by police following an allegation that he racially abused an airline staff member at Heathrow airport.
January 16 – A return to Premier League football after FA Cup fixtures marked a return to sell out crowds at seven Premier League stadia. Swansea, West Ham, Man Utd and Leicester again recorded over 99% of their stadiums full.
January 5 – The more games you give them more they want, would seem to be the evidence of the back-to-back rounds of Premier League fixtures over the past 5 days. Round 20 fixtures delivered an average stadium capacity of 95.87%, the third highest of the season and just beating the Round 19 fixtures. The highest average capacity of the season was recorded for the Round 18 Boxing Day fixtures at 97.22%.
January 3 – After the famine came a feast. With Premier League fans made to wait for seven days before festive football came to their stadia, they are now engulfed in a jam-packed schedule that saw Round 19 fixtures on December 31, roll straight into Round 20 fixtures on January 2.
December 29 – The English Premier League doesn’t take a winter break, but for football fans it felt like it had taken one with a flurry of fixtures over the 10 days of December 10-18 and then a long and lonely wait to the traditional feast of Boxing Day fixtures on December 26.
December 20 – West Ham’s Christmas came early, topping the attendance capacity chart twice during the Premier League’s three fixtures in eight days, and taking seven points out of a possible nine in the league.
December 15 – The Premier League pre-Christmas rush of matches – three games in eight days – has had very little impact on attendance levels, with eight clubs reporting over 93% of their stadiums full.
December 12 – Premier League AFC Bournemouth is looking for a site to build a new stadium that the club could move to as early as the 2020/21 season. Locked into the smallest stadium in the Premier League – Dean Court, named the Vitality Stadium under a sponsorship deal – capacity would raise from the current 11,464 to 25,000, according to local reports.
December 12 – Chelsea topped the Premier League and its attendance table this weekend, with just 176 seats unfilled at Stamford Bridge, the club’s second best capacity of the season after opening day when just 156 seats were unfilled in what has been another season of sell-outs.
December 9 – The English Football Association has suspended Leeds United’s controversial Italian owner Massimo Cellino (pictured) from all football activities for 18 months and fined the Italian £250,000 for breaking transfer regulations.
December 7 – West Ham topped the weekly attendance table for their home game against Arsenal, with just 20 seats left unfilled in the London Stadium. Plagued by fan violence at earlier home games, Hammers fans have not been put off supporting, especially for the local derby against Arsenal.