Is the credit crunch starting to impact on football attendances - Manchester United in particular? I went to the Carling Cup tie between the Reds and Middlesbrough last night with my son. When you don't use cash it's easy to miss how much you pay for the privilege - in this case 84 pounds for the night's entertainment (2 tickets costing 42 pounds each).

There were huge spaces around the ground with many season ticket holders exercising their right to opt out of Carling Cup encounters. The attendance was announced as 53,000 but I must say I'd have put it at a lot less. The low attendance follows heavy promotion of the game in the local press.

The Carling Cup has proved less attractive in recent years because of the heavy use of reserve team players. However it is interesting to note that the recent European game against Villareal was also the subject of extensive local advertising and for Saturday's clash with Bolton tickets are on general sale.

It appears that United are finding it more difficult to attract capacity attendances - a trend that is likely to intensify as the economy cotinues to decline. This is a matter of particular concern given United's extensive debts courtesy of its new owners.

As with the wider economy could the football boom be turning to bust?