This is a fairly unique situation though, and not one that would have existed before PL clubs became a licence to print money. I'd formerly have classed myself in the bold camp, if you go back far enough in my post history to when I was young and stupid, you'd find me fuming that there were 20,000 empty seats on an ice cold Thursday night for a UEFA Cup clash with some fucking Israeli peasants.
I agree with you about the changing demographics of football fans, but the situation's a bit flipped on its head here because the club puts no effort in at all, which is an assumption the "thick and thin" argument makes. It's many (by no means all, I'm generalising) of the die hards who are the ones fucking it off, while the ones for whom it's a day out, and who don't give that much of a fuck about the result, continue to fill the place. I usually compare the situation at NUFC to wedding vows. I consider my wedding vows sacrosanct but NUFC are shacked up with the woman next door and only pop round once a week to drink my booze and punch me in the face. Honouring them isn't loyalty, it's idiocy.