West Brom have been consigned to yet another season in the Championship.

Steve Bruce’s side have been unable to earn a play-off place and now know their fate for another year with two games still remaining.

This was the team’s first campaign back in the second division of English football following their relegation from the Premier League 12 months ago.

It took two seasons back in the Championship before gaining promotion the last time the Baggies earned their way to the Premier League.

That makes comparing the attendance figures of the 28,650 capacity Hawthorns stadium an interesting exercise.

During the Slaven Bilic and Sam Allardyce led season back in the top flight, West Brom were unable to host home fans consistently due to the pandemic.

However, in the previous eight years spent in the Premier League, the Baggies welcomed a near capacity crowd almost every week.

In the final year under Tony Pulis, the club averaged an attendance of 24,520 people cheering on the home team.

That number dropped slightly to 24,158 during the club’s first season back in the Championship, but then dipped to 18,824 in their promotion campaign in 2019-20.

That number fell again for this year’s run in the second tier, with 17,544 people attending home games on average.

Following this trend, that number is likely to fall again as Bruce continues to build a side capable of fighting for promotion.

The glory days of filling 23,876, 24,631 and 25,064 fans into the crowd in those final Premier League campaigns now feels a long time ago.

In 2012-13, under Steve Clarke, the Hawthorns even saw the average attendance rise to as high as 25,202.

That was a campaign that saw the team sell out 14 of their 19 home league games, which is an impressive figure.

That number has fallen to zero in recent seasons, with the last sold out game coming during the 2016-17 campaign in the Premier League under Pulis.