Footy without the fan fare

There was a timely boost for the Premier League, this week, when it was estimated that at a typical Arsenal home game, more than 6,000 people with tickets don’t show up at all.

The picture looked even more promising in Manchester, after police figures highlighted an idyllic evening at Old Trafford where as many as 25,000 ticket holders stayed away.

These are the Premier League’s kind of people. In an ideal world, there would be data confirming that they stayed at home to watch the match on television.