Quote: karetaker "So your saying we can’t fill a 50,000 stadium here but we can in London'"
All evidence is that we get much bigger crowds for England games in London than in the 'heartlands'. Going back decades.
Some of the excuses you hear from northern fans for not attending international games are spectacular. Mostly they don't attend because:
(1) England will definitely win - vs France, Wales, Tonga, Samoa, etc;
(2) England will definitely lose - vs Australia, NZ;
(3) player from Team X was picked instead of their own favourite;
(4) ground is too big; or
(5) ground belongs to a rugby or football team I don't like.