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

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.

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.☘️

— The Suly shamrock 🍀 (@Jk6315) September 12, 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.

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.

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.

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.

John Hartson Predicts Celtic’s Next Big Exit

Paulo Bernardo’s performances for Celtic have sparked speculation that he could be the club’s next high-profile sale, potentially fetching a significant transfer fee that’s up there with Celtic’s record-breaking numbers.

25th August 2024; St Mirren Park, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, Scottish Premiership Football, St Mirren versus Celtic; Paulo Bernardo of Celtic warms up

The 22-year-old Portuguese midfielder, who eventually permanently joined Celtic for £3.5 million from Benfica this summer following a successful loan, has seamlessly taken over the midfield role formerly held by Matt O’Riley. His standout displays in Celtic’s 3-0 victories over Rangers and St Mirren caught the attention of many, including former Celtic striker John Hartson.

Hartson believes that Bernardo could command a fee of up to £20 million in the future, citing the player’s rapid development under manager Brendan Rodgers. This midfield that Bernardo has been a part of over the past few games has contributed significantly to Celtic’s early success in the Premiership this season.

John Hartson said to STV: “Brendan likes signing players he feels he can improve. Brendan’s brilliant on the training ground and he likes to work with them.

“You look at Bernardo now, who was absolutely terrific in the last game. He’ll probably be the next £15million or £20million player to go from Celtic. He’s that good.

“Matt O’Riley was £1.5million from MK Dons a couple of years ago, you’ve got Kieran Tierney coming through from the youth team, Moussa Dembele who cost £500,000 and they sold him for £20million.

“It’s remarkable, but it’s down to hard work from Brendan, his style and putting them in when they’re ready.”

Having Bernardo at Celtic last season on loan and then getting him for a cut-price deal has turned out to be an excellent piece of business.

He did well last season, in which there were pretty limited minutes. He clearly used the time to bed into Celtic and Glasgow, and this season, so far, he’s kicked on and been great in the Hoops.

If he keeps his performance levels as high as they have been, it won;t be hard to command £20 million for him.

Celtic Ready For Major Digital Upgrade; More Details

Celtic TV is embracing a digital transformation, moving away from traditional DVDs to a fully integrated digital streaming platform. It’s the end of an era and the beginning of a new digital one, and not before time!

This summer, following feedback from the fan survey, the club announced substantial upgrades to Celtic TV aimed at enhancing the viewer experience for supporters globally.

The announcement detailed that all feature-length content, previously available on DVD, will now be accessible directly through Celtic TV. This includes exclusive documentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, and special features.

Soccer Football – Scottish Premiership – Celtic v Rangers – Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain – September 1, 2024 Celtic fans inside the stadium before the match Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

One of the highlights of the new content lineup is a documentary that follows the club through the highs and lows of the 23/24 season, reminiscent of the ‘All or Nothing’ series. This doc is eagerly anticipated and is expected to be released soon.

Celtsarehere have discovered some of the upgrades ready to be rolled out:

On-demand access to feature-length content without requiring a subscription, replacing the old DVD format.

Pay-per-view (PPV) options for occasional matches, in addition to regular live match content. Subscribers will enjoy discounted access to these PPV events.

An upgrade to full 1080p HD streaming for live games, ensuring a higher quality viewing experience.

Delayed full match replay service is now available in full HD for UK and Ireland subscribers.

An increase in the availability of short-form content exclusively for subscribers, providing more weekly content directly on Celtic TV.