St Johnstone’s decision to cut Celtic allocation just doesn’t make sense

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The Celtic Star

·12. September 2024

St Johnstone’s decision to cut Celtic allocation just doesn’t make sense

Earlier this week St Johnstone the latest club to slash ticket allocations for both Celtic and theRangers. It’s a self-defeating trend that has gripped the Scottish Premiership clubs and results in empty seats at grounds…

McDiarmid Park, Perth

Yet supporters of clubs like St Mirren claim that it’s been a successful move limiting the Glasgow giants to just one stand at their ground. Kilmarnock tend to have the most empty seats when the big two are in town, despite knowing that they could easily accommodate all of their own supporters and still give Celtic and theRangers two stands instead of one.

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Empty seats galore at McDiarmid Park last season. The ONLY time ground could be at capacity is when Celtic or theRangers play there.

St Johnstone are now the latest club to jump on this bandwagon by cutting the ticket allocation of the two Glasgow clubs, following the likes of Hearts, Hibs and the aforementioned Kilmarnock and St Mirren in doing so.

Indeed theRangers are lucky that they are getting any tickets to McDiarmid Park, judging by the comments to the announcement on the official St Johnstone Facebook page. Their support reckons that following the disgraceful assault of the Saints SLO by Rangers ultras at Hampden recently, theRangers should get zero tickets for their next trip to Perth.

The Saints owner sent this open letter to the St Johnstone support via the club’s official website:

Dear Saints fans,

I wanted to take this opportunity to communicate directly with you about the important matters of matchday attendance and our plans moving forward for matches against Celtic and Rangers.

Your unwavering support as part of our loyal fan base is the cornerstone of our success. With that in mind, I want to emphasise our commitment to making McDiarmid Park a true fortress for our team, particularly when hosting Celtic or Rangers. Historically, we have sometimes allocated the East Stand to visiting supporters and moved supporters to the Geoff Brown Stand. We have also allotted more seats than necessary in the Geoff Brown Stand to opposing fans. Under our new policies, to be announced later this week, opposing fans will be limited to the Ormond and North stands and one section of the Geoff Brown Stand which is legally required to accommodate disabled seating.

For this initiative to be successful, we need you – our dedicated fans – to turn out in force. We understand that this requires a collective effort, and we are committed to making it as convenient as possible for you to attend. We are putting extra provisions and planning in place to enhance your matchday experience, including improvements in accessibility, safety, parking, and stadium services.

Finally, in light of some recent unsavoury incidents both home and away, we have reviewed and updated our terms and conditions for accessing McDiarmid Park on matchdays. These updated guidelines are designed to ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for everyone. The new terms and conditions will be made available later this week. We encourage all fans to familiarise themselves with these changes.

We value your input and are keen to ensure that any decisions we make are reflective of your needs and concerns. To this end, we will be gathering feedback through a working group, which will include fans and representatives from the club and the police. Your voice matters, and we encourage you to engage with this process to help us shape the future of our matchday experience.

I want to thank you for your continued support and dedication to St Johnstone. Together, we can make McDiarmid Park a venue where every Saintee feels at home and where our opponents face the full force of our collective spirit.

I look forward to seeing you in the stands on September 28 for the Celtic game.

Adam Webb

Owner and Chairman

Celtic don't rely on sky monies to keep the club afloat . The clubs cutting allocations to away fans do. Half empty stadiums make for poor tv viewing .Like it or not .Hence the shite tv times for games. Be careful what you wish for with the petty allocations debate.☘️
– Donnerstag, 12. September 2024

I couldn’t give a hoot about the Ibrox club or their fans, but when it comes to our club it irks me, like it does with every other Celtic supporter, especially those who like an away day.

These clubs are cutting their nose off despite their face by taking such action. In doing so they are depriving their own clubs of much needed income in a climate where every penny counts. It also paints a bad look on the Scottish game at a time when we are trying hard to promote our game. Half empty stands doesn’t do our game justice, especially when there is a demand to fill those spaces.

I get that clubs are free to make their own decisions on that they feel is right, but what is right about denying your club of much needed funds when they desperately need them? It doesn’t make sense and yet again casts a doubt on the future of the away supporters as a viable thing in the Scottish game. Communities with supporters buses travelling up and down the country supporting their team and in doing so filling the coffers of clubs up and down the land.

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Celtic also need to do everything that they can to avoid empty seats. We have written about the need for a Ticket Exchange Scheme and that should come along at some point in time. In the meantime Celtic should look at giving away teams (excluding theRangers as a separate deal is in place for them) coming to Celtic Park a maximum of the number of their supporters who visited Celtic Park previously.

These clubs are all within their rights to say that they are putting their own fans first. Yet Celtic have a huge demand for tickets for Paradise and there are thousands of Celtic supporters who can’t get a ticket on match day at Celtic Park, yet there are usually always spaces in the away corner.

And hopefully for this weekend Hearts have received no more tickets that they give us for Tynecastle, despite having evidence that the seats they have taken from Celtic remain unsold and they end up with empty seats and lower revenue. For what? Spite.

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St Johnstone has a new American owner who is still getting to know the lay of the land in Perth. A few years ago Saints had a home Scottish Cup tie against theRangers and the visitors were given three stands because the game was not on the St Johnstone season ticket. Despite all St Johnstone fans who wanted a ticket getting one, there was outrage and the club vowed never to let this happen again.

The reduction for the Celtic visit at the end of the month is smaller than the headlines might suggest, the two stands behind the goals will still house Celtic supporter and there will be some reduction to the numbers in their main stand. The stand opposite seems to have seats that no-one ever sits in.

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Look at the empty seats at McDiarmid Park last season

Land prices are on the rise in West Perth with the new motorway extension opening up land for new housing development. McDiarmid Park is on prime development land and there has been talk of building a new standing reducing the capacity by 50% to around 5000 on the outskirts of the city. Basically St Johnstone admit that they don’t need a 10k capacity stadium yet are turning their backs on football supporters who want to attend McDiarmid Park.

It just doesn’t make sense.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

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