empty stadiums throughout the SPL

made the mistake of watching Sportscene and my god the empty stadiums throughout the league makes me question the value of winning the SPL! what an embarrasment our top league is with half empty shitey grounds and plastic pitches. We need to get out of this backwater ASAP!


There's a far higher percentage of the population in Scotland go to watch football than in England.
 
There's a far higher percentage of the population in Scotland go to watch football than in England.
but its just us and the fiddlers! it doesnt make for good viewing from an outside perspective! i always cringe when we are playing away to a st johnston or a livingston and its live on Sky. No wonder the rest of the uk think we play in a pub league
 
Unfortunately, I don't see us ever playing anywhere except here. England don't want and don't need us or them. Also, turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
 
i dont say this lightly but i feel that whether we win 55 or 555 titles anyone outside of Scotland would just be like - and????


Who could argue, 33 years since the sheep won the league, we have swapped titles with the scum since, 91 was the last time anyone else could have won it, sheep again playing us at Ibrox and only needing a draw.
 
thomas cook is not going to lay a glove on the biggest mobilisation of uk citizens since ww2. (manchester) But there lies the problem! there are too many people who support us or the filth due to religious reasons and there is not enough supporters to go round the other 38 clubs in the leagues.
 
Overpriced tickets
Over the top stewarding and policing
Terrible football from the majority
Restrictions on alcohol
No pyramid structure
Playing the same teams 4 times a season

It's no wonder a lot of fans don't bother their arse. SPFL/SFA could do so much to get the fans back but they seem to be happy with the empty stadiums as they never do anything to change it.
 
There's a few diddy's that can muster a good crowd when there's a shiny trinket going, seems the weekly grind of league football isn't worth the bother and they call us the glory hunters.

Would you pay £30 to watch Livingston or St Johnstone play?
 
The SPFL/SFA should be taking control of this and giving guidance and instruction to clubs in order to improve the image and saleability of our game.

Empty stands look shit and create a poor atmosphere thus reducing the price broadcasters are willing to pay.

Ita glaringly obvious what's needed to overhaul the overall image of the game and increase the income of all teams via broadcast deals yet the powers that be seem entirely uninterested in changing it.
 
It's also due to many people supporting bigger teams such as us and that mob. However, there are too many fans that sit at home and don't turn up and support their club. You also have to consider the population of Scotland as well. We are simply too big for this league as well as Celtic, would be amazing if we could join English football.
 
i dont say this lightly but i feel that whether we win 55 or 555 titles anyone outside of Scotland would just be like - and????
Europe is where the competition is for us or the scum nowadays. The league is purely a competition between us and them. Mostly them trying to catch us to make themselves feel a bit better. Us because it’s the route into the CL.
 
I thought the same watching the game today. Two full stands of Rangers fans behind each goal and empty seats galore elsewhere. It’s not right and it’s not sustainable. Seeing it on TV makes it look even worse.

Look at lower leagues in England, stadiums full or nearly full. Too often in Scotland we watch half empty stadiums, it’s an embarrassment. Neutrals watching will never think it’s a competitive league if the majority of teams don’t have enough fans who can be arsed to actually turn up. I’m not sure what the answer is other than restructuring the leagues and having either a British or European league set up.
 
Best thing for them would be us and Celtic going to England and switching to summer football.

May find a lot of either sets of fans going to see other teams during that period.
 
Unfortunately, I don't see us ever playing anywhere except here. England don't want and don't need us or them. Also, turkeys don't vote for Christmas.

With respect, it's upto the men in charge of the club to put forward a compelling case for our joining the setup down south. You would think the like of Dave King would be over the moon to see his investment rocket in value.

If we were successful, you would expect Celtic be also, surely we could arrange between us to provide a parachute payment for the SPFL in exchange for their "approval/sanctioning the move.
 
Don't understand why the Saints don't give us the far side and at least one end. Must cost them a fortune, not to mention the poor image for tv.

Ah well, it's their loss, we usually get the three points anyway.
It’s baffling. They could sell thousands of extra tickets that they evidently can’t shift on their own. It’s not as if they are losing much of a sporting advantage, we have comfortably better players as it is. If they sold say 5k extra tickets x 2 at what, £30 a pop, it’s an additional £300k, which would pay for 2 additional players on £3k pw. That has to be to their benefit.
 
Best thing for them would be us and Celtic going to England and switching to summer football.

May find a lot of either sets of fans going to see other teams during that period.
I think it would help but sadly I don’t see it coming.
 
£30 was too much for today, I imagine that’s what the home supporters would be paying too. Only saw the highlights but it was one of the worst home attendances I’ve ever seen, looked to be lucky if there was 1,000 of them. Attendance was something over 6k. It’s not good. They are bottom of the league though so I’m sure that plays a part too.
 
One of the biggest problems in my view is there are two many clubs having 4 leagues in a country this size is crazy just look at fife
 
For us to have a decent crowds at games ect, a reckon teams like Falkirk Dunfermline Dundee united dundee partick even ayr and raith rovers to be in the top flight. Stadiums no great but usually fill out well at home we get decent sections for away allocation and they usually bring decent crowds to Ibrox.

St Johnstone county Hamilton st miren and livingstone they bring nothing to our game really, poor crowds at home today you could have put al st Johnstone fans in one behind the goal and gave rangers the rest. Hamilton crowd ur lucky if there is 2/3 k. It’s an embarrassment. But they are there on merit cos the other teams av mentioned are pish
 
Only because of us and the unrinseables.

Hearts, Hibs and the sheep are well supported clubs. Where Scotland differs from quite a few other countries though is that we have two massively supported clubs in this small country and that does have an impact on the size of the support of some of the other clubs?
 
Hearts, Hibs and the sheep are well supported clubs. Where Scotland differs from quite a few other countries though is that we have two massively supported clubs in this small country and that does have an impact on the size of the support of some of the other clubs?
Perhaps. It’s an interesting argument as to what the other clubs’ respective supports would be but for us and the mentally challengeds. Scotland is certainly a country dominated by football and as we see, it permeates into other areas of life (politics, mhedia, etc.).
 
We could sell out every game we play home or away if allowed, and therefore at least 50% of live tv games. The answer is there if they want to listen.. We can do no more than offer.
 
With respect, it's upto the men in charge of the club to put forward a compelling case for our joining the setup down south. You would think the like of Dave King would be over the moon to see his investment rocket in value.

If we were successful, you would expect Celtic be also, surely we could arrange between us to provide a parachute payment for the SPFL in exchange for their "approval/sanctioning the move.
Its the lower Premiership clubs, championship and leagues 1&2 that would have a problem with us being parachuted in, not to mention UEFA. Like it or not we are not wanted or needed down South or we'd have been there already.
 
I would have thought that live televised football served up by Sky, BT etc is not helping attendances either.
Not sure how much it affects the crowds? There will be some impact but most games on tv contain us or the mentally challengeds and both clubs tend to sell their own tickets out, so you’re really looking at the impact on the home gate. I am not convinced it’s a big deal. The quality of the product and a lack of booze are bigger factors,
 
One of the biggest problems in my view is there are two many clubs having 4 leagues in a country this size is crazy just look at fife

That is an invalid argument that has been made for years. You will not get supporters of Dunfermline who want to go to Kirkcaldy to support Raith Rovers or vice versa. Similarly with any of the other Fife clubs, The classic example was when Third Lanark went out the game. The vast bulk of their support was lost to senior football. It was always mooted that Pollok Juniors picked up some of the old Thirds support but the guys that I knew just stopped going to games.
 
Can't understand why St Johnstone had so many empty seats today. Crowd was something like 6251. I did a quick check on wikipedia earlier and mcdairmid holds about 4000 more than that. That's a lot of revenue to lose and while they may not have sold every one of those empty seats to bears, it would surely have been a lot closer to capacity than what it actually was. When you add in lost potential for sales of programmes, food, drinks, etc, it adds up to significant losses and missed opportunity for St Johnstone today. If that happens, say, 3 times a season (I'm assuming that they host either us or the tramps twice a season) that's a load of dough that would surely be useful to clubs like these. Would it be that difficult to relocate saints supporters into 1 or 2 areas, so that their club could maximize revenue potential?
 
Many of these clubs should just charge £ 5 entry ticket per adult and child. They'd end up buying refreshments to make up some money for the club. Its getting people in the door that matters. At least they'd have an attendance of some kind.
 
Scotland isn't the only small country with two clubs that dwarf the rest. Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Croatia, Serbia etc all similar.
Perhaps but the likes of Belgium, Portugal and Holland have 2-3 times our population and realistically stadiums don’t hold 150,000 - 180,000. The point remains though bud that in some countries, big clubs skew the figures hugely. That is less of an issue in bigger countries, with more, bigger grounds.
 
It’s baffling. They could sell thousands of extra tickets that they evidently can’t shift on their own. It’s not as if they are losing much of a sporting advantage, we have comfortably better players as it is. If they sold say 5k extra tickets x 2 at what, £30 a pop, it’s an additional £300k, which would pay for 2 additional players on £3k pw. That has to be to their benefit.
there would be outrage when they build a decent team and want the seats back for thier own fans:) I'd imagine aswel that if us and the fiddlers got that many fans they'd be on to a serious hiding every game against us and thier fans that do still go will end up jacking it they should just cut the price they all should try and fill thier grounds the products not worth the price that's how no one wants to go throw in the Scottish weather and regular soakings people would rather do better stuff for a lot less money imo:) rangers are my local team ma family are all bears a canny imagine what it's like to support one of the wee diddy teams a always notice how mince some of the teams we play are I'd prob be a bitter wee nat like the majority of them filled with hate and unhappiness :)
 
We’ve got about 30 more professional teams than the population can properly sustain.

(And I use the term “professional” very fkn loosely.)
Correct and we can play each other 7/8 times a season potentially. Last season 14 matches involved just Kilmarnock and the sheep. Talk about familiarity breeding contempt. Needs a bigger league.
 
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