Alex_14 Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 Alex, always a pleasure reading your replies mate. Good to see someone able to engage in sensible conversation. Anyway, I accept that there will be a fair few people who travel from further afield for these games. It's only natural. However, it's not as if Aberdeen are like Celtic & Rangers in the fact there are loads of supporters clubs and ex-pats across the globe. If I said out the 47,000 figure that attended Celtic Park in support of Aberdeen, I'd imagine a fair estimate of people who travelled to the UK for the game would be around 1000 maximum...& that's being generous I think. Sure there will be ones in England who travelled up but again. Any more than a 1000? I lived in England for 10 years and travelled up at least once a month for a Celtic game so no reason why these guys can't. Was a 10-12 hour round trip for us but wouldn't have it any other way. My own brother supports Aberdeen despite being from Glasgow & having no affiliation to the club or city. He used to support Celtic when he was little but seemed to start supporting Aberdeen when Hans Gillhouse (sp?), Theo Snelders etc were there and they had a decent team and Celtic were struggling. In short...he glory hunted. Now he buys every AFC home shirt, he'll watch their games on TV, he'll argue with me on Fb about the football and when we see each other. In fact he'll do anything for Aberdeen...but go and watch them. That is unless, they are in a final or semi-final in Glasgow. I've even found him the number of one of a few AFC supporters clubs in Glasgow. He can easily reach stadiums like Firhill, Fir Park, Rugby Park,& New Douglas Park, where he could easily get a ticket to watch the Dons play. However, he doesn't bother. He has the weekends off & he could afford to go. Yet when they got to the semi-final and final last season...off he went to the game acting all die-hard. The truth is, there are loads of people like him following Aberdeen. Nothing but glory hunters. As I said, we have them at Celtic Park. I have no time for them. However for Scottish football to prosper we don't need more Celtic fans to pack the place out. It's Aberdeen, Hearts & Hibs who need to up their game and get the most out of their potential fan base. Even filling their current capacities would give them a major boost but I think all these clubs are capable of being clubs who get 25,000 - 30,000 crowds. could get a ticket I don't really understand your post. You completely acknowledge we have glory hunters in our support who don't hail from Aberdeen. I don't expect someone who lives 2.5 hours away to have a season ticket and to drive up to Pittodrie to come and see us play Kilmarnock. Unfortunately, glory hunters are part of football and they'll pick and choose their games. Is a 'top of the table clash' a more enticing prospect for your casual football fan, than a game against whatever the 10th placed side is? Yes. You could cite many reasons as to why Aberdeen don't get 20k attendances every second week. Ticket prices combined with the downturn and job losses, perhaps? This also ties in with the fact that we have many potential Aberdeen fans taken out of the city to pursue the money found elsewhere, be it in Dubai or wherever. Or is it the football on offer? We have seen in the past that we have a strong 8/9k hardcore contingent who were there through the Craig Brown, McGhee days etc, and then we have 5k more who fluctuate on top of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forever_blue Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Various reasons. Mainly glory hunters. I'll not pretend otherwise. I'll leave that blind defence for guys of clubs like yours. There was also the economic factor that affected my club particularly due to how Ireland was badly hit. We had 5,000 season ticket holders over there. Not sure what the figure is now but I know that we don't seem to have as many Irish fans from the south coming over these days. Can easily see that in the pubs after the games. Some are just disillusioned with the football. When your club is used to winning, you expect it done in style with good play. The standards have dropped massively and despite still having healthy ST sales of around 42,000...we are still getting around 5,000-7,000 of them not turning up on a regular basis. So that's the Irish economic downturn getting the blame for celtics dwindling attendances Wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deeboy Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Celtic fans don't turn up because Ireland's economy is fucked. x infinity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forever_blue Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 How do you spot a Southern Irishman in a pub from the rest , are they the ones dressed normally while the locals go all out in their Guinness hats , draped in their tri-colour and wearing the 2002 Ireland World Cup strip in a desperate bid to show the world their fake irishness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1320Lichtie Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 There's no way DavieBhoy is being serious. Why are so many people giving him the bites he craves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forever_blue Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 There's no way DavieBhoy is being serious. Why are so many people giving him the bites he craves? ^^^^ wears his Guinness hats to the celtic games type post IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Alex, always a pleasure reading your replies mate. Good to see someone able to engage in sensible conversation. Anyway, I accept that there will be a fair few people who travel from further afield for these games. It's only natural. However, it's not as if Aberdeen are like Celtic & Rangers in the fact there are loads of supporters clubs and ex-pats across the globe. If I said out the 47,000 figure that attended Celtic Park in support of Aberdeen, I'd imagine a fair estimate of people who travelled to the UK for the game would be around 1000 maximum...& that's being generous I think. Sure there will be ones in England who travelled up but again. Any more than a 1000? I lived in England for 10 years and travelled up at least once a month for a Celtic game so no reason why these guys can't. Was a 10-12 hour round trip for us but wouldn't have it any other way. My own brother supports Aberdeen despite being from Glasgow & having no affiliation to the club or city. He used to support Celtic when he was little but seemed to start supporting Aberdeen when Hans Gillhouse (sp?), Theo Snelders etc were there and they had a decent team and Celtic were struggling. In short...he glory hunted. Now he buys every AFC home shirt, he'll watch their games on TV, he'll argue with me on Fb about the football and when we see each other. In fact he'll do anything for Aberdeen...but go and watch them. That is unless, they are in a final or semi-final in Glasgow. I've even found him the number of one of a few AFC supporters clubs in Glasgow. He can easily reach stadiums like Firhill, Fir Park, Rugby Park,& New Douglas Park, where he could easily get a ticket to watch the Dons play. However, he doesn't bother. He has the weekends off & he could afford to go. Yet when they got to the semi-final and final last season...off he went to the game acting all die-hard. The truth is, there are loads of people like him following Aberdeen. Nothing but glory hunters. As I said, we have them at Celtic Park. I have no time for them. However for Scottish football to prosper we don't need more Celtic fans to pack the place out. It's Aberdeen, Hearts & Hibs who need to up their game and get the most out of their potential fan base. Even filling their current capacities would give them a major boost but I think all these clubs are capable of being clubs who get 25,000 - 30,000 crowds. could get a ticket tl;dr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davie Bhoy Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I don't really understand your post. You completely acknowledge we have glory hunters in our support who don't hail from Aberdeen. I don't expect someone who lives 2.5 hours away to have a season ticket and to drive up to Pittodrie to come and see us play Kilmarnock. Unfortunately, glory hunters are part of football and they'll pick and choose their games. Is a 'top of the table clash' a more enticing prospect for your casual football fan, than a game against whatever the 10th placed side is? Yes. I don't think a 2/12 hour drive is too far to go for a ST holder. When I lived in Swindon, I held one for Celtic Park (still do). I knew guys down there that had them for Man U and travelled up regularly. I'm not saying you have to have a ST but they could make the effort to attend more regularly. I gave the example of my brother being what I'm talking about. There is no reason for him not to make an effort to get to Pittodrie say 4-6 times a season. Or to be able to fit another 2-3 away games in, when they play in the central belt. He doesn't though and off the top of my head he's prob only bothered with maybe 4-5 Aberdeen games in a decade. Yet to listen to him when they play, you'd think he never missed a game. You could cite many reasons as to why Aberdeen don't get 20k attendances every second week. Ticket prices combined with the downturn and job losses, perhaps? This also ties in with the fact that we have many potential Aberdeen fans taken out of the city to pursue the money found elsewhere, be it in Dubai or wherever. Or is it the football on offer? We have seen in the past that we have a strong 8/9k hardcore contingent who were there through the Craig Brown, McGhee days etc, and then we have 5k more who fluctuate on top of that. I genuinely thought that given the off-field improvement & on-field improvement, coupled with the silverware success recently, that we'd be looking at the Dons attracting 15,000/16,000 to Pittodrie every game & obviously more than that when ourself, Hearts or Dundee Utd visit. It genuinely bugs me that they don't turn up because I'd like to see our game improve after listening to the English slate it for 10yrs and bang on about there only being 'two teams up there'. Aberdeen have been given a golden opportunity with what happened to Rangers, and I personally feel like they have blown it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davie Bhoy Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 How do you spot a Southern Irishman in a pub from the rest , are they the ones dressed normally while the locals go all out in their Guinness hats , draped in their tri-colour and wearing the 2002 Ireland World Cup strip in a desperate bid to show the world their fake irishness You can tell by the accents and the personalised supporters club shirts. Used to be heaving with the Irish Bhoys for games, but not as much these days. Even when I discussed it on a Celtic page ages ago, many Irish Bhoys agreed that the economic situation over there had had a big impact on their ability to get over for games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forever_blue Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I don't think a 2/12 hour drive is too far to go for a ST holder. When I lived in Swindon, I held one for Celtic Park (still do). I knew guys down there that had them for Man U and travelled up regularly. I'm not saying you have to have a ST but they could make the effort to attend more regularly. I gave the example of my brother being what I'm talking about. There is no reason for him not to make an effort to get to Pittodrie say 4-6 times a season. Or to be able to fit another 2-3 away games in, when they play in the central belt. He doesn't though and off the top of my head he's prob only bothered with maybe 4-5 Aberdeen games in a decade. Yet to listen to him when they play, you'd think he never missed a game. I genuinely thought that given the off-field improvement & on-field improvement, coupled with the silverware success recently, that we'd be looking at the Dons attracting 15,000/16,000 to Pittodrie every game & obviously more than that when ourself, Hearts or Dundee Utd visit. It genuinely bugs me that they don't turn up because I'd like to see our game improve after listening to the English slate it for 10yrs and bang on about there only being 'two teams up there'. Aberdeen have been given a golden opportunity with what happened to Rangers, and I personally feel like they have blown it. Don't think Aberdeen have blown anything since our absence , if anyone has blown anything it is yourselves . Aberdeen have been progressively closing the gap between themselves and you over the last three years whilst celtic have regressed massively in that timescale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davie Bhoy Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Celtic fans don't turn up because Ireland's economy is fucked. x infinity. So you don't think having a massive section of your fan base being crippled by a struggling economy is a factor. Jeez, what a wee lab chimp you really are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deeboy Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 What percentage of your home gate travel from South of Ireland bi-weekly exactly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davie Bhoy Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Don't think Aberdeen have blown anything since our absence , if anyone has blown anything it is yourselves . Aberdeen have been progressively closing the gap between themselves and you over the last three years whilst celtic have regressed massively in that timescale No denying we have wasted an opportunity ourselves, but in the context I'm speaking about, then we will be able to boost ourselves and dominate for a few years. We are well run & having lost £10m a season from season ticket sales, we've addressed that issue by selling top players we have developed. Our situation will improve. Aberdeen however, had the chance to fend off Rangers for maybe another 3-5yrs if they could pack out Pittodrie and find some players who could beat Rangers. If/when Rangers come up, I think Aberdeen will now only be ahead of them for the first season & the next should see Rangers edge ahead of them and we'll be back to where we were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspect Device Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 One thing that has been on my mind since Wednesday is the question why Celtic didn't do their usual tactic of blocking/fouling the keeper at any corners or free kicks. Brown was woeful in these situations before and Celtic never put any pressure on him at all. It's as if they didn't want to win the game. #conspiracytheory #tinfoilhat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P45 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 What percentage of your home gate travel from South of Ireland bi-weekly exactly? Thoosands mate, but only when the Irish economy is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspect Device Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 So you don't think having a massive section of your fan base being crippled by a struggling economy is a factor. Jeez, what a wee lab chimp you really are! Is it still struggling? I'll ask my wife when she gets back from Dublin on Sunday. The amount she'll spend will no doubt help their economy no end. http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-remains-fastest-growing-economy-in-europe-1.2522354 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davie Bhoy Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 What percentage of your home gate travel from South of Ireland bi-weekly exactly? No idea just now. Like I said. We used to have 5,000 ST holders. I'd love to know the numbers now because it's def dropped. Even my friends who used to come over independently about 4-5 times a season are now only over about once a year. You don't hear the Irish accents as much as you used to at the stadium or in the pubs. You could be in one pub and have 3-4 different Irish clubs from all over the south in the place and that would be the same with every pub in the Gallowgate. Now it's lucky to have one club here in a pub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davie Bhoy Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Is it still struggling? I'll ask my wife when she gets back from Dublin on Sunday. The amount she'll spend will no doubt help their economy no end. http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-remains-fastest-growing-economy-in-europe-1.2522354 Ha-ha....women are the answer mate. The last I spoke to my mate over there he said it was slowly improving. His town/village in Co. Tipp have got some hope for big employment happening in the area which he is optimistic about. My big problem is that we could have lost a generation of fans. Time will tell though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScotSquid Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 So you don't think having a massive section of your fan base being crippled by a struggling economy is a factor. Jeez, what a wee lab chimp you really are! A 'massive section' How many fans are you claiming travel to Scotland from roi for Celtic home games? 500? 1000? 34,200? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davie Bhoy Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 A 'massive section' How many fans are you claiming travel to Scotland from roi for Celtic home games? 500? 1000? 34,200? We had 5,000 ST holders. Plus throw in the ones who didn't have ST's and came over to make a weekend of it & you are talking about 5,000-7,000 down. It's not exclusively those fans who aren't turning up but I'd say it's the most noticeable section that is missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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