Whomever ‘Millwall fan’ may be, if you want to kill them with stats...
First, Charlton have not got a large floating fan base as one poster asserts. What they have is access to lots of armchair football fans who will turn up if you give them cheap PL football to watch. That’s a different thing to a club like Forest or Sheffield Wednesday or Southampton being able to generate crowds of 25,000 when on a run in L1. If you want to see a big floating fan base, see Sunderland!!!
Charlton have NEVER averaged over 20,000 in the third tier EVER. Not even on the occasions they have won it and won it well.
Anyways... from a bit of old research for something...
In the fifteen seasons of First Division football Charlton Athletic enjoyed between 1937 and 1957, they averaged for the most part between 25-30,000. On only six occasions did they average over 30,000. In this same period Millwall were able to attract average crowds of between 20-28,000 for Second and Third Division (South) football, including relegation and re-election seasons.
Charlton’s best average by far was in 1948/49 when they averaged 40,216 finishing 9th in the First Division; Millwall averaged 24,629 in Division Three (South) that same season, having been relegated to the previous season and finishing 8th, playing the likes of Torquay United, Aldershot and Exeter City.
When Charlton Athletic finished 3rd in the First Division in 1938/39 they averaged 25,141; again, that same season Millwall averaged 27,387 finishing 13th in the Second Division.
When the Docks were thriving Millwall were one of the best supported clubs in England based on average attendance and were able to attract such impressive crowds as 45,642 for a match against Notts County for a standard Division Three (South) match with nothing riding on it in 1948; 37,585 v Sheffield Wednesday in Division Two 7th April 1939 - when in 14th place with no chance of going up or down; 39,287 v Newcastle United in Division Two 31st August 1946 - first competitive league game after war at bomb and fire damaged Den, where capacity was restricted; 31,990 v Port Vale in Division Three (South) 21st August 1948 - first game after relegation to Third Tier; and 32,497 v Torquay United in Division Three (South) 20th August 1949 - first game of season, but after two miserable seasons of pain.
And Millwall could still attract big crowds well into the 1960s, just before the London Docks started to wind-down, with the gates being closed after 41,260 clicks of the turnstiles for the visit of Spurs in 1967, with thousands still hoping to get in, and just under 30,000 for the visit of Palace that same season, despite being mid-table in the Second Division and 30,000 for the visit of Leicester City in the 4th Round of the FA Cup in 1969.
So, there is no doubt in my mind based upon the above, that if Millwall could have achieved promotion to the First Division during that same period Charlton did, that we could have attracted average crowds of over 30,000 consistently, and probably closer to 40,000. The Den indeed saw crowds of 45-50,000 for big Cup games in that period, often with thousands locked out. Even Millwall A v Millwall B reserve matches between the wars attracted 15-20,000 crowds – that’s bigger crowds than Charlton were able to attract for second and third tier football on average.
To really highlight this fact, in Charlton’s golden period, when they finished 2nd, 4th and 3rd in consecutive First Division seasons, they averaged 25,141, 28,336 and 31,086 respectively; compared to Millwall averaging 27,387, 22,758 and 19,009 finishing 13th in the Second Division, top and 8th in the Third Division (South) in exact same period. The season before Charlton achieved back-to-back promotions they averaged 10,574 and then only 15,713 winning the Third Division (South) and 22,026 winning promotion to the top flight, which is less than Millwall averaged winning just the Third Division (South) - 22,758.
Therefore, it makes more sense to compare the clubs when playing at the same level. Millwall have had the higher average attendance on 19 of the 35 occasions that both have played at the same level. Furthermore, Millwall averaged 12,393 in total in those seasons and Charlton 11,110.
The highest average for either club in the seasons they have played at the same level is 18,685 (Millwall in Division Two 1929/30). Charlton have averaged under 7,500 on seven occasions that they have been at the same level as Millwall, yet only one of those was whilst playing at Selhurst Park all season. Millwall have averaged under 7,500 when playing at the same level as Charlton just twice.
Millwall have only averaged under 10,000 when playing at the same level as Charlton on ten occasions. Charlton have averaged under 10,000 twelve times when both clubs have been at the same level.
Millwall have averaged over 15,000 on eleven of the occasions both have been at the same level, compared to Charlton’s six occasions.
So, you could say Millwall have a much more robust hard-core support compared to Charlton. Especially when you consider Charlton have played more top flight football, which should create a bit more of a cushion when times are hard. Yet, Millwall have a historical average of 12,342 for third tier football, compared with 10,046 for Charlton Athletic.
In 1960, Millwall averaged 14,447 finishing 5th (not promoted / no play-offs) in their second season of 4th tier football and 13,206 finishing 16th in the third tier in 1963, in an era where Charlton averaged 11,102 finishing 10th in the second tier in 1961, having been a top flight club just 4 years before and who were down to 5,658 and 5,306 for third tier football in 1973 and 1974. Millwall still managed to average 10,443 whilst getting relegated from the third tier in 1964, having suffered a torrid time since the end of the war trying to recover from bomb and fire damage, including reapplying for re-election in the 1950s. In fact, Charlton only averaged more than 13,500 four times between 1960 and their first season of Premier League football in 1998/99; compared to Millwall averaging over 13,500 on six occasions in the same period.
If you did want to compare the historical average attendance of both clubs since they joined the Football League, then Charlton Athletic have averaged 15,657 and Millwall 12,288. This brings us back to my original point, as those figures hardly suggests that Charlton Athletic are a sleeping giant compared to Millwall, especially when you consider Charlton have enjoyed 26 seasons of top flight football compared to Millwall’s 2 seasons. Indeed, if you remove top flight seasons, Charlton’s average drops sharply to 12,051 historically - which is less than Millwall, who have had theirs dragged down by 5 seasons of Division Four football never experienced by Charlton and more seasons of third tier football than the Addicks.
