What's the problem with Stirling?

[Gmcg95]

Molly Malone’s has defo swung into mentally challenged pub territory over the last few years which is unfortunate cos there is a real lack of decent pubs in Stirling town centre.

With regards to Stirling Albion, the stadium being about 2 miles outside the town centre doesn’t help.

 

[TommyEgan]

I get that - the fans likely wouldnt go for it. Just think having so many small clubs within the area spreads the already small support too thin. The shire already ground share and must get what a few hundred fans a game - when the money they got selling the stadium goes what will they do then?

Oh I agree 100%, its one of the main issues we have in Scotland, for such a small country we have too many teams.

 

[bellasboy]

Molly Malone’s has defo swung into mentally challenged pub territory over the last few years which is unfortunate cos there is a real lack of decent pubs in Stirling town centre.

With regards to Stirling Albion, the stadium being about 2 miles outside the town centre doesn’t help.

When they shut the mentally challenged slop house the claymores, a lot of them moved to drinking in molly malones

 

[Vince]

I always thought our national stadium should be in Stirling. Central location good motorway access, backdrop of the castle/monument, and good rail links.

 

[focrs]

Egg chasers In Stirling

 

[frankieboy]

Maybe it's because of the amount of teams around them.
Livingston
Alloa
Falkirk
Stenhousemuir
And not to mention the Edinburgh and Fife teams that are only thirty odd miles away

 

[BlueBritain]

I played for Stirling Albion at youth level. They're youth set up was outstanding, we competed in the SPL league and beat most teams. I would have expected most of the players to make it to the first team or get a big move.

Then the head of development got sacked for fielding over age players at a tournament. I left not long after (no relation) and think it all went to shit.

It's a shame, as they could have invested some money into the team from potential player sales.

 

[a_weir]

I don’t think it’s that they don’t have an interest. It’s that they don’t have an interest in supporting a diddy side for a few years

This, really.

Back when I was at Uni, I lived in Leicester when they were in league 1 and even then, couldn't be bothered to go that often.

If you're in to football, you don't really take an interest in a team just because they're local.

 

[ClockworkOrange]

Hasn't really hit it off this season. Played really well last year for City as well. Negative media attention, I think.

 

[Papasmurf]

This, really.

Back when I was at Uni, I lived in Leicester when they were in league 1 and even then, couldn't be bothered to go that often.

If you're in to football, you don't really take an interest in a team just because they're local.

I moved to near Bristol for a while. Planned to support one of the Bristol sides. Never made it.

 

[biodoc]

Moving the club from the city centre out to a retail park wouldn’t have helped plus the club never had any major or minor success to generate a fan base.

 

[Theknight]

Stirling is quite a big rugby town, and the surrounding villages either rangers or they cunts

Was gonna say that, Stirling County have always been the biggest team there in recent years

 

[Ally Shuffle]

One thing i will say about the Albion - there hospatility is bloody brilliant. £75 and you leave absolutelckled, and generally the game although not technical is generally competitive

 

[GavCo]

I always assumed the Irish pub up from the station was their bar? Molly Malones?

It's a music venue more than anything.

Think the problem with Stirling is that it's only a short train journey to go see any number of better teams than Stirling Albion. The ground is also a bit of a pain in the arse to get to with nothing of interest around it.

 

[Peachy Catboy]

i live in a small town in england bigger than all these apart from Dundee, our local club gets around 1.3k attendance

Well supported club at Harrogate. Buxton can get only 300-400 but up to 600/700 on a good day and our town is only 18,000 people. I have always found a good appetite for local clubs all over England.

 

[Peachy Catboy]

I always thought of anything North of Drymen as rugby Country.

 

[Dugsy]

Big Mags Haney has turned them all into bad yins

I once heard someone described as “As thick as a Mags Haney Jobbie”.

 

[The Blue Viper]

Maybe it's because of the amount of teams around them.
Livingston
Alloa
Falkirk
Stenhousemuir
And not to mention the Edinburgh and Fife teams that are only thirty odd miles away

Glasgow is only about 30 miles away from Stirling. Will be more bears in that neck of the woods than fans of all those team put together.

 

[lumbear1872]

Do you think there is no interest in Cumbria for football....?

Plenty,just the usual suspects Man U,Liverpool etc although it is a big rugby area.

 

[Ally Shuffle]

I always thought of anything North of Drymen as rugby Country.

Ironically Drymen is further south than Stiling lol

 

[kramer]

Molly Malones is a Belhaven chain pub. More plastic than semtex

There was a right mentally challenged slophouse think it was called clansman just up from 22 Baker Street
Stirling full of tims

 

[academical]

Why pick out Stirling? OP is a very piecemeal picture.

The biggest towns in Scotland, by population, outside the 4 big cities (5 if you count Inverness), are Paisley, Greenock and East Kilbride. Two of them have poorly supported teams, one has no top flight team.

Meadowbank tried moving to the big new town of Livingston; Clyde to Cumbernauld. Neither attracted any significant new fan base.

Hamilton is an old county town, and one of the top twenty towns in Scotland. Accies have a miserably small support, despite being the only senior club in South Lanarkshire, one of the biggest local authority areas in Scotland.

Club mergers have been attempted. Most have failed. The only successful one, in Inverness, hasn’t led to a well-supported club.

Bottom line is only Rangers and Celtic attract big supports in Scotland. The worst supported, pro rata, are actually Hearts and Hibs, the big capital city teams. In the 1950s, they were bigger than Celtic, regularly winning trophies. But it’s been constant decline since then.

 

[BillStruthsGreenhouse]

Is Stirling not more of a rugby area?

 

[A Magician Named Gob]

East Fife, Stirling Albion, Falkirk, Alloa, Stenhousemuir and probably four or five others in a small area. Scotland has too many football clubs and it's as simple as that. The area in and around Angus has 5 or 6 doing next to nothing and the area around Glasgow has over 10 at an immediate guess. The squads in the top divisions are full of players that would be playing amateur level if we had a suitable amount for our population. As much as it's great that people are playing, it's diluting the quality in the top flight divisions. Amalgamate, make it harder to hold down a position in the top teams.

 

[QueensferryCR3Bear]

On the topic of Livingston having 56,000 residents....

No one in Livingston seems to support Livingston. I have no idea who their fans are.

My Mrs has lived here all her life, doesnt know any Livi fans.

I've been here 6 years, don't know any Livi fans.

We live reasonably near the ground, never see any Livi fans walking through the street here.

None of our friends know anyone that goes to the games either.

Very strange. And they cant even fill their main stand when we visit.

 

[A Magician Named Gob]

Why pick out Stirling? OP is a very piecemeal picture.

The biggest towns in Scotland, by population, outside the 4 big cities (5 if you count Inverness), are Paisley, Greenock and East Kilbride. Two of them have poorly supported teams, one has no top flight team.

Meadowbank tried moving to the big new town of Livingston; Clyde to Cumbernauld. Neither attracted any significant new fan base.

Hamilton is an old county town, and one of the top twenty towns in Scotland. Accies have a miserably small support, despite being the only senior club in South Lanarkshire, one of the biggest local authority areas in Scotland.

Club mergers have been attempted. Most have failed. The only successful one, in Inverness, hasn’t led to a well-supported club.

Bottom line is only Rangers and Celtic attract big supports in Scotland. The worst supported, pro rata, are actually Hearts and Hibs, the big capital city teams. In the 1950s, they were bigger than Celtic, regularly winning trophies. But it’s been constant decline since then.

I'd say that Rangers and Celtic take up all of the supporters in these areas, even if they're further from the centre of Glasgow most people's lives are still going to be Glasgow-centric.

Livingston is probably just an extension of Edinburgh but they have their own problems with the population not being as actively engaged in the game as they could be.

 

[alex wright]

My only issue is that Hank lives there.

Oi you!! That fact should be on their tourist literature.

"Stirling, home of @Hank and some castle or other"

 

[superallythe2nd]

East Kilbride has a larger population than Stirling, it’s now up at Paisley’s level and will soon overtake.

I don't know of anyone in EK that actively follows EKFC. Some locals may have adopted them as a "second team". However, that doesn't mean they'll be heading to K-Park of a Saturday afternoon.

Those fans would be en-route to either Ibrox or Piggery with a smattering maybe heading to Fir Park or even New Douglas Park.

Being an overspill town for Glasgow means that the majority of the population will still follow the Glasgow clubs.

 

[derbybear]

Not very good at tackling and should score more.

 

[Geedubya]

Doesn’t always work out by population.

England:

Birmingham’s representation in EPL is patch to say the least.

Bristol is non-existent