OFFICIAL HEARTS JUGGERNAUT THREAD 2020-

[DoingThe42]

Absolutely mad to see this framed as anything other than a good news story.

I remember being at Tynecastle for league games with four-figure crowds. Now there's a waiting list for a season ticket and Hearts are in a position to move away from relying on OF fans and basically fill the ground themselves.

It should be underlined that Hearts have won no major honours in more than a decade and finished fourth last season. This isn't some post-cup-win bounce or some shite like that. This is a club effectively growing itself and is very good news long-term. I understand that some people might not like that idea, but it's true.

Only a fucking idiot would frame this as anything other than a good news story.

Edited July 11, 2023 by DoingThe42

[gannonball]

41 minutes ago, DoingThe42 said:

Absolutely mad to see this framed as anything other than a good news story.

Only a fucking idiot would frame this as anything other than a good news story.

Having an issue  with fitting all fans in is a nice problem to have but suggesting a pretty small %age being allocated for away fans is neither 'mad' or being an 'idiot' it's just a difference of opinion ffs.

Edited July 11, 2023 by gannonball

[Gorgie greatness]

All this negativity, has no one thought how Livingston can still bring their entire home support to an away game

[jamamafegan]

The first thing I will say about this is that it's great to see Hearts in a position where there are able to virtual sell out their entire ground to their own fans. The backing the Hearts fans give the club at Tynecastle is to be applauded. In addition to this, any Old Firm supporter who complains about this move doesn't have a leg to stand on given the behaviour of their own clubs on this issue in recent times. However, this decision by Hearts is ultimately a very wrong and poor one.

This "*insert club* is only looking out for it's own fans, fair play" trope is a piece of nonsense. It is setting a dangerous precedent where clubs are basically blocking away fans from attending games. We've seen it already with the OF derbies, now Hearts are heading down that path. What's stopping Hearts from no longer providing an away allocation so they can give all their stadium to home supporters? Nothing, it would seem. Away fans help create an atmosphere at the football, as soon as you start removing them the atmosphere becomes sterile. It becomes a poor advert for our game.

The SPFL should have stepped in ages ago and stopped this stuff when the OF were at it. Every top flight club should be forced to provide an initial minimum percentage of their stadium to away supporters - I say 5%. That's roughly 1000 away fans at Tynecastle, which is perfectly fair for everyone.

As I've said before (I started a thread about it ffs) the segregation issue at Hearts is a total embarrassment, it's a disgrace. The massive sheet covering seats in the Roseburn looks ridiculous and denies hundreds, possibly over 1000 fans, from attending games. Hearts need to find a proper long term solution for this, be it a moveable, folding fence that stretches down the stand or something else. I'm sure there will be examples used abroad they can take inspiration from.

Tynecastle is easily my favourite away day. Last time tickets for Saints away at Tynie went on sale, I'm fairly sure they sold out within 30 seconds - such is the demand and the pathetic allocation. It is now going to be even harder, maybe impossible, for non-season ticket holders to get briefs for this away fixture. It's disappointing and needless.

10 years ago you'd have been laughed at on here for suggesting that Hearts should build a new stand bringing capacity up to 23k or thereabouts. Now we find ourselves in a position where they need just that - it's difficult to imagine that they'll ever be able to expand Tynecastle. That's what you get for showing a lack of ambition.

[Basile Boli]

4 hours ago, AndyM said:

Both Edinburgh clubs generally get about 800 tickets for Ibrox and similar for Parkhead. But outwith cup games it's been a long time since either Hearts or Hibs travelled in big numbers to either side of the Glasgow divide. 

There is little incentive to do so. The result is usually a foregone conclusion and as a fan you are treated atrociously by the Police and the generally brainless stadium stewards who see to be on a power trip.

The "experience" at the stadium isn't much better and at Parkhead you end up behind a pillar. And then you have the post game delight of getting back to your car often through the hoardes of home fans, a handful of whom won't think twice about taking a cheap shot at a lone away fan (they're never brave enough to have a go at a group of fans) and hoping your car has survived being vandalised by the maurading gangs of wee neds who seem to float around on match days. 

Such a delight.

What a laughable post. I’m surprised that you find it within you to even leave the house when you’re under constant danger such as that.

I think you’ll find that Police attitudes towards football fans are generally standard throughout the country and you are not just singled out on your visits to Ibrox and Parkhead.

Easter Road especially is an absolute shambles to try and access, through a combination of inept stewarding and policing and poor stadium design - insufficient turnstiles for one. And who thought it was a safe idea to have sets of steps leading up to turnstiles?

I’ve also seen plenty of flashpoints in my time visiting Easter Road so don’t start your sanctimonious pish about running the gauntlet in Glasgow.

[Girth]

I always knew Hertz were secretly the 3rd OF team. 

[Gorgie greatness]

23 minutes ago, Girth said:

I always knew Hertz were secretly the 3rd OF team. 

2nd pal tother ones deed

[Tony Wonder]

1 hour ago, jamamafegan said:

That's what you get for showing a lack of ambition.

There's some of your post I agree with, some I disagree with.

There's no chance of Hearts ever stopping any away fans full stop. You argue for 5%, this is effectively 4%. It's not a huge difference, certainly not one I can see any point in claiming Hearts have got it horribly wrong.

I also agree the segregation is awful and unnecessary.  If we put a semi permanent fence/plexiglass solution there it'd be easily done and increase actual capacity. 

The last bit though, how have Hearts shown a lack of ambition?

[Dons_1988]

3 hours ago, AJF said:

Then as a sort of "gentlemen's agreement" if there can be such a thing between the two,

Oh yeah, they hate each other soooo much. They can barely be in the same boardroom never mind come to an agreement!!

[1GregStewart]

3 hours ago, DoingThe42 said:

Absolutely mad to see this framed as anything other than a good news story.

I remember being at Tynecastle for league games with four-figure crowds. Now there's a waiting list for a season ticket and Hearts are in a position to move away from relying on OF fans and basically fill the ground themselves.

It should be underlined that Hearts have won no major honours in more than a decade and finished fourth last season. This isn't some post-cup-win bounce or some shite like that. This is a club effectively growing itself and is very good news long-term. I understand that some people might not like that idea, but it's true.

Only a fucking idiot would frame this as anything other than a good news story.

You forgot the championship title 

[DoingThe42]

2 hours ago, jamamafegan said:

The first thing I will say about this is that it's great to see Hearts in a position where there are able to virtual sell out their entire ground to their own fans. The backing the Hearts fans give the club at Tynecastle is to be applauded. In addition to this, any Old Firm supporter who complains about this move doesn't have a leg to stand on given the behaviour of their own clubs on this issue in recent times. However, this decision by Hearts is ultimately a very wrong and poor one.

This "*insert club* is only looking out for it's own fans, fair play" trope is a piece of nonsense. It is setting a dangerous precedent where clubs are basically blocking away fans from attending games. We've seen it already with the OF derbies, now Hearts are heading down that path. What's stopping Hearts from no longer providing an away allocation so they can give all their stadium to home supporters? Nothing, it would seem. Away fans help create an atmosphere at the football, as soon as you start removing them the atmosphere becomes sterile. It becomes a poor advert for our game.

The SPFL should have stepped in ages ago and stopped this stuff when the OF were at it. Every top flight club should be forced to provide an initial minimum percentage of their stadium to away supporters - I say 5%. That's roughly 1000 away fans at Tynecastle, which is perfectly fair for everyone.

As I've said before (I started a thread about it ffs) the segregation issue at Hearts is a total embarrassment, it's a disgrace. The massive sheet covering seats in the Roseburn looks ridiculous and denies hundreds, possibly over 1000 fans, from attending games. Hearts need to find a proper long term solution for this, be it a moveable, folding fence that stretches down the stand or something else. I'm sure there will be examples used abroad they can take inspiration from.

Tynecastle is easily my favourite away day. Last time tickets for Saints away at Tynie went on sale, I'm fairly sure they sold out within 30 seconds - such is the demand and the pathetic allocation. It is now going to be even harder, maybe impossible, for non-season ticket holders to get briefs for this away fixture. It's disappointing and needless.

10 years ago you'd have been laughed at on here for suggesting that Hearts should build a new stand bringing capacity up to 23k or thereabouts. Now we find ourselves in a position where they need just that - it's difficult to imagine that they'll ever be able to expand Tynecastle. That's what you get for showing a lack of ambition.

I agree with you that the segregation area is too big. I think that's obvious.

But there's absolutely no reason to suggest Hearts (who still give Hibs a whole stand) are going to give anybody a zero allocation. It won't go smaller than this, and this is about right for most clubs.

You might wish St Johnstone got more tickets, but it's not as if they've been bringing thousands to Tynecastle for years. I was at the 3-2 win against St Johnstone last August and the 3-2 win over Motherwell in (I think) November. Both those games benefited from being full houses with full away ends. It's hard to make a case that Hearts should be keeping back tickets for other clubs just because you'd like more.

If games are selling out quickly, that is good. The crowd for that game in August was 18,353. In 2002 St Johnstone won at Tynecastle in front of 10,672. The story here is that Hearts have almost doubled attendances for these games in roughly two decades. If that means some away fans can't get in, that's just life.

The idea Hearts are heading to an away fan ban has no basis in reality.

[jamamafegan]

41 minutes ago, Tony Wonder said:

Last bit though, how have Hearts shown a lack of ambition?

What I should have said was lack of foresight. Hearts have always had a large fanbase and the club were already selling out in the Championship before the old stand was demolished. The new main stand should have been extended higher to increase the capacity IMO.

 

[DoingThe42]

7 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

What I should have said was lack of foresight. Hearts have always had a large fanbase and the club were already selling out in the Championship before the old stand was demolished. The new main stand should have been extended higher to increase the capacity IMO.

 

Strongly disagree. Capacity should be at a level that encourages season ticket buying, creates a bit of scarcity, and protects against inevitable fallow spells.

Thinking of giving up your season ticket? I wouldn't, there's a waiting list etc.

Roughly 20k for Hearts is fine. The stadium being full is good.

Edited July 11, 2023 by DoingThe42

[Sortmeout]

2 hours ago, Basile Boli said:

What a laughable post. I’m surprised that you find it within you to even leave the house when you’re under constant danger such as that.

I think you’ll find that Police attitudes towards football fans are generally standard throughout the country and you are not just singled out on your visits to Ibrox and Parkhead.

Easter Road especially is an absolute shambles to try and access, through a combination of inept stewarding and policing and poor stadium design - insufficient turnstiles for one. And who thought it was a safe idea to have sets of steps leading up to turnstiles?

I’ve also seen plenty of flashpoints in my time visiting Easter Road so don’t start your sanctimonious pish about running the gauntlet in Glasgow.

Deadco .

[Tony Wonder]

31 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

What I should have said was lack of foresight. Hearts have always had a large fanbase and the club were already selling out in the Championship before the old stand was demolished. The new main stand should have been extended higher to increase the capacity IMO.

 

Ah right, with you now.

We tried to increase it by more, I think the original main stand plans were for an additional couple of thousand but planning permission was denied due to the proximity of the nearby ethanol tanks. The council said that was the maximum they could allow.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

5 minutes ago, Tony Wonder said:

Ah right, with you now.

We tried to increase it by more, I think the original main stand plans were for an additional couple of thousand but planning permission was denied due to the proximity of the nearby ethanol tanks. The council said that was the maximum they could allow.

Of course if we’d found the money to get the tanks moved then we’d have been able to do it

but given the previous three decades or so of Hearts history I don’t think anybody can really criticise the board for being financially cautious and not speculating to accumulate 

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

Personally i'd rather see us give Celtic and Rangers 650 and everyone else bar Hibs the 1300.

I

[Hoose Rice]

This thread has become randomly beautiful. 

Salty tear catcher on amazon prime day is a must buy.

[AngusTheBull]

3 hours ago, Tony Wonder said:

There's some of your post I agree with, some I disagree with.

I also agree the segregation is awful and unnecessary.  If we put a semi permanent fence/plexiglass solution there it'd be easily done and increase actual capacity. 

In theory, however, similar to us with ‘the fence’, the council would likely insist on segregation as well. The South Stand segregation at Pittodrie - even with a fence - is similar to Hearts currently.

[Tony Wonder]

27 minutes ago, AngusTheBull said:

In theory, however, similar to us with ‘the fence’, the council would likely insist on segregation as well. The South Stand segregation at Pittodrie - even with a fence - is similar to Hearts currently.

Never knew that. 

It's obviously recommended by the authorities,  I wonder how much its actually pushed back on. I get the impression we are happy to have it and just blame someone else rather than have to come up with a solution.