GLF 63:GB thinks that football is too pricey and he shares his views on the new Scotland manager.
CROWDS AT FOOTBALL
It has been interesting recently to look at the crowds up and down the country and how they have been reported.It has also been interesting to look at the reasons that have been put forward for the drop in crowds.
Look at the self-proclaimed Greatest Fans in the World, they have been reporting crowds of 57-58,000 in recent weeks despite the number of seats that you can see empty on the telly.Even some papers have reported that a couple of games before Christmas that there were lucky if there were 30000 in the stadium.
Then they had the sight of seeing only 18,000 turn up for the Scottish Cup third round tie at home to Dumbarton, and I believe that there were 2,000 Sons fans there!I also believe that although season tickets weren't available that prices had been reduced.
The Celtic fans are always telling us that they are the Greatest, culminating in the millions who travelled to Seville for the UEFA Cup Final.Why then can't they be bothered turning out for an SPL game.
You can argue that some of the games that they have to watch are pretty dire as they grind out result after result against teams like ourselves.They now claim that they need the money for the games like AC Milan which is the big stage for them.
Having said all that it would appear that they still don't want to watch their team when they are playing in the second most important trophy in our little nation. Particularly when there is meant to be a queue round the East End waiting on season tickets.
Then we can have a look at Dunfermline on Scottish Cup 3rd Round weekend, when only about 1,200 Pars fans could be bothered to turn out to see them take on Rangers at East End Park.
There is a theory that this was down to the fact that the game was on TV, but that doesn't explain the fact that Rangers managed to sell out their end.I would say it was probably the fact that the entry price of £25 might have been too much for most devoted Pars fan given the season they have had so far.
Although I am sure that those that stayed away will now be regretting the decision.......
Aberdeen and Hibs only managed to get about 8,000 for their 3rd Round tie at Pittodrie, although this may be a bit easier to understand given that this was a midweek tie which was live on terrestrial TV.
This 2-2 draw of course led to a Thursday night replay that led to all sorts of accusations leading up to our Saturday League game with Aberdeen.The Thursday was chosen to accommodate Hibs playing live on Setanta on Monday night and the replay live on Sky on Thursday!
Having said all this what can we do?I think the first thought is of King Canute proportions, and that is to suggest that TV has less of an impact on the scheduling of TV matches.
As I write this there has been a live game of some sort on TV every night, and some of them have been awful.Do the authorities not remember the fable of killing the goose that laid the golden egg?
The other problem is the pricing of games, £25 to watch a Scottish game, whether it be in the Cup or the League is getting ridiculous.This kind of pricing takes the game away from being the game of the people.
How do you get a father to take along two kids, when it could be a minimum of £50 for them to get in before buying anything else at the ground when there is an alternative of watching a top Spanish, English, Italian, German or French game on television in the comfort of your own home for a lot less.
If you look at Airdrie v Motherwell, where over 4,000 Well fans turned out, the prices were set £18 and people responded.
Hopefully this summer there will be a light that goes on in the corridors of power that says prices have risen as far as they can, and indeed it is now time for them to come back down!
WALTER SMITH
I have no real problem with the former Scotland Manager moving to join Rangers, but I do have a problem with the way it appears to be done.
From what I could see he moved with some undue haste, and was also "working" for Rangers before he had resigned from the Scotland job.The evidence for this comes in the signing of Andy Webster from Wigan, and the appointment of Kenny McDowall as first team coach.
I wish that he left with a bit more dignity, I am sure that these things could all have waited a few more days and at least looked as they had been set up after he had left his job at the SFA.
I was also unsure of my feelings about the arrogance of Rangers in all this.They appeared to think we snap our fingers, he comes running and we don't need to worry about the feelings of the SFA.
The SFA took a bit of a hard time for their role in this affair in the media, but I for one applauded them for standing up to the Playground bully from Govan.
Graham Barnstaple
Visit the GLF archive. Hundreds of articles