Our rise certainly has the feel of a Leicester/Southampton style climb back to the top and I think it’s showing in the levels of support. We always have a class following anyway though tbf
You are spot on. I was going to use Leicester as an example but didn't want to sully the board with their name
Leicester & Southampton historically were/are very similar to us right up to maybe 15 yrs ago, then we fell off a cliff.
Right up until the year they went to League One you couldn't fault Leicester's away following at ours but they were genuinely the worst away fans at HR/ the Ricoh, they barely made any noise at all. It was even something their fans used to acknowledge- they'd show up but they weren't a noisy crowd at all. After they came back up from L1 and we played them in... 2010? (Waghorn scored for them!) they were a different bunch altogether, more noisy and boistrous than we'd ever seen them.
Same with Southampton- nobody would ever say that they were a passionate crowd, but after they came back up it was the same, they were suddenly much noisier (and there were way more of them), and when we got whacked at St Marys to see them promoted the atmosphere was unbelievable, it was a cauldron.
We are no different- we had a few curses though, firstly the 34 yrs in the top flight, great yes but also annual mediocrity, never anything to play for until the last few games & no promotion pushes or a "cause". We became known as a "small club"- we're not huge but we're not a small club, but a 'small club mentality' was drilled into us. Secondly our recent resurgence started when nobody could go see it. I'm obviously biased but 'pound for pound' our away support is up there with the very best in the country already, but at home- that needs work & that'll only come with momentum & results.