I think Wednesday have a lot more going against them than derby do. They have had it worse too. I do believe derby used to give quite a few tickets away at pride park like Sunderland did when they moved to the SOL.
It happens everywhere. You’ll get our fans that are 18+ 15+ aways purchasing tickets then passing them down if they don’t fancy doing that game for whatever reason. Keeps their aways games above where they need to be to get tickets.
Forget the 1.1m population. It’s very diluted from the ethnic make up of the area. In Luton’s case they are just North of London so that won’t help them.
There are 250000 Asians in Brum. The ones that follow football will follow United, Liverpool etc. Old Villa and Blues strongholds are now Muslim areas where footy is far from one of their main passions. Blues have a bigger fanbase than their crowds indicate, but it’s mostly always been the same...