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Segregation Arrangements V Old Firm


Gaucho
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In my opinion it isnt working. The attendances for each of the 4 games this season has hovered round the 8000 mark which isn't great.. The away support alone when the OF go to Killie for example is 8000.

 

We should try and make as much money from these games as possible - especially if we're not taking any points.. The Thistle fans could easily be fitted into half of The JH stand letting them get them get the remainder of the stadium. Alternatively we could probably fit all the home support (that is bothering to turn up) into the old Main Stand. What do the rest think?

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Didn't seem to matter 3 guys in celtic scarves went through the turnstiles in the main stand ahead of me laughing and joking with the steward about how he was on the same turnstile at the game earlier in the season

Edited by Wayfarer
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Seating arrangements for games at Firhill against Celtic/Sevco should be the same against any other team in the division, i.e. main stand only for away support.

 

Has there been any evidence of the current arrangements directly leading to increased funds for the playing squad?

 

If there are concerns from the police with regards to safety in main stand with Celtic fans and use of flares, then there should be not Celtic away support allowed at Firhill. I don't understand why home fans should be disadvantaged because of this.

 

Currently there is meek submission to the Old Firm in seating arrangements, therefore subsequent meek submission on the pitch is hardly surprising.

Edited by milhouse
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Didn't seem to matter 3 guys in celtic scarves went through the turnstiles in the main stand ahead of me laughing and joking with the steward about how he was on the same turnstile at the game earlier in the season

 

That sort of thing just pisses me off.

 

We've made huge strides as a club these past few years. We're working really hard at becoming a more professional club and we're doing well to rid ourselves of the 'cuddly toy' tag, but it infuriates me that we just seem to bend over for the Old Firm both on and off the pitch. It's absolutely sickening.

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It depends on whether you think Thistle need the revenue or not.

If we don't then by all means keep the home fans where they are for all the other games. If we do need the revenue then we have two choices. For old firm games we can tell them they're only getting the main stand but the police wont allow them in there. Then we can estimate how many away fans we could fit in, then divide the total income from maximum attendance by the number of jags fans then charge the home support that. Alternatively we can maximise our income by giving them both the JH and North stands. The Thistle support can comfortably fit in the main stand. Would also mean away fans wouldn't need to go in with the home support.

Edited by scotty
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I think the current arrangement is OK and probably he best for the club. At the end of the day we need the additional money that they bring in. Its very disappointing from a Thistle fans perspective seeing them easily filling the JHS and partying, if we were able to fill it ourselves then this whole debate would be non-existent. We barely even made the NS look respectable last night. The debate will rage on but if it serves a purpose, i.e. enables us to strengthen our squad then we cant grumble too much. Until we have a solid 8000 core support this will be the arrangement

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Talking about the JHS... I arrived very early last night and there were already around 100 bits of green material dotted about the JHS at random. Once they were unfurled it became obvious that they were banners/flags with wooden poles. Does anyone know if it is still an offence to bring flags/banners with wooden poles into a football match? Is it or was it just some sort of local bye-law in Glasgow/Strathclyde (as was)?

 

If it is still an offence, did Thistle know about this? If not, how was it arranged? Police and Stewards are presumably in place long before the gates open. Worse, (if it's an offence), was it with their blessing?

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. Would also mean away fans wouldn't need to go in with the home support.

 

Irrespective of how many tickets we gave them there will always be OF fans that will rock up to Firhill and buy tickets for our end. What the club need to do is police that efficiently and with the best interests of Thistle fans in mind. Turning up with no colours on and behaving respectfully is, in my mind, acceptable. Strolling in with your OF gear to the home end is not. We already have that money in the bank so take the ticket and refuse them entry -,anything else is a smack in the teeth to home fans already displaced from their own stand.

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The current arrangement is the one that works best and maximises revenue.

 

Splitting the JH instantly increases the stewarding costs considerably, as we need to have 2 lines of stewards situated all the way down the stand.

 

Currently we save that money as we don't need to segregate any of the stands in the stadium.

 

The current layout of the stadium is the biggest problem we have. Blame that on a series of disastrous decisions made by successive boards of directors.

Edited by ian_mac
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That sort of thing just pisses me off.

 

We've made huge strides as a club these past few years. We're working really hard at becoming a more professional club and we're doing well to rid ourselves of the 'cuddly toy' tag, but it infuriates me that we just seem to bend over for the Old Firm both on and off the pitch. It's absolutely sickening.

 

Agree.

Followers of the OF will always turn up in our stands even if it was ticket only but mainly as we don't sell out. I've no real problem with that. If needs be at one of our away games I would go into the home end if it was the only way I could get in to watch the Jags. I doubt I'd last long flaunting Thistle colours before I was turfed out and it should be exactly the same for the OF. You go in sit down (advisedly sitting on your hands) and shut up for 90 minutes.

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I am in full agreement with LIB and Tom Stronach. The club and the police should be doing a lot more.

 

Unfortunately, stewards just aren't paid enough to deal with that sort of thing. It's just not worth their while and it's a lot easier to turn a blind eye.

 

I'm not condoning their actions but given what they are paid, I don't blame them.

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Surely the easiest way to have spotted a Celtic supporter last night in the North Stand was the only ones who were going up to stewards and asking where their seat number was it was hilarious. Last night probably all the Thistle support could have been in the main stand. However something has to be done as they can't stand amongst us and then expect us to listen to their counterparts singing about the Cowardice terrorist organisation that is the IRA and that gods for Rangers fans as well

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I wouldn't have been able to go the game last night but I probably would have chosen not to anyway. I have only been to one Old Firm game at Firhill in the last 30 years or so - I just find the "atmosphere" at these games repugnant - it makes me embarrassed to be from Glasgow and Scotland. There is much to celebrate about Ireland but the IRA & Orange Order are not among them.

 

At every Home Game, there is an announcement of the attendance and usually a note of the away support. Did they make any announcement last night? I am interested in the amount of the home support - I suspect that the lowest home crowds this year will have been at the games against Rangers & Celtic. I certainly hope the away fans were not politely applauded for coming to the game last night.

 

Home Advantage is one of the great psychological mysteries in Sport. I guess there is an advantage of being in familiar surroundings. I don't like being evicted from the Jackie Husband Stand to accommodate a set of fans who can not be trusted to behave like reasonable human beings in the Main Stand. It must be difficult for our players to see our Home Ground given over to the opposition and our support moved out - it won't seem like a home game to our players which might be part of the reason we seem to have such a weak mentality in games at Firhill against the Old Firm.

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My point in starting this topic was to ask how we can possibly 'sell out' the fixture rather than only get 7-8k.

 

If the OF moved to England and we were hosting the likes of Aberdeen or Hearts who were then going for the title the attendance at their games at Firhill wouldn't be any less than 7-8k. Therefore the presence of the OF in our league isn't as critical as the Glasgow Press seem to think. Armageddon and all that...

 

I just don't accept that we can't get more for the entire crowd than Killie get away supporters when they play the OF.

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One of the things that annoys me about home games against the other Glasgow teams is the stewarding.

 

At the recent Rangers game, at half time, there was a line of stewards in front of the North and Main Stands. On the JHS side, one steward wandered along the sideline. Rangers fans climbed over the wall and spent some time re-arranging their banner ready for the second half.

 

On Thursday evening a young boy, in the North Stand, put his hands on the wall. A steward came over and told him to move. Many Celtic fans were leaning on the wall of the JHS throughout the game.

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I wouldn't have been able to go the game last night but I probably would have chosen not to anyway. I have only been to one Old Firm game at Firhill in the last 30 years or so - I just find the "atmosphere" at these games repugnant - it makes me embarrassed to be from Glasgow and Scotland. There is much to celebrate about Ireland but the IRA & Orange Order are not among them.

 

At every Home Game, there is an announcement of the attendance and usually a note of the away support. Did they make any announcement last night? I am interested in the amount of the home support - I suspect that the lowest home crowds this year will have been at the games against Rangers & Celtic. I certainly hope the away fans were not politely applauded for coming to the game last night.

 

Home Advantage is one of the great psychological mysteries in Sport. I guess there is an advantage of being in familiar surroundings. I don't like being evicted from the Jackie Husband Stand to accommodate a set of fans who can not be trusted to behave like reasonable human beings in the Main Stand. It must be difficult for our players to see our Home Ground given over to the opposition and our support moved out - it won't seem like a home game to our players which might be part of the reason we seem to have such a weak mentality in games at Firhill against the Old Firm.

 

There may well be some truth in what you say, but long before the Thistle fans started getting moved around to accommodate those two showers, our matches against them usually ended in defeats.

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Accept it is not ideal being decanted from the JHS but it is the most practical option. I would go a step further and give them the city end of the main stand as well to maximise revenue as long it can be easily segregated. The Green Brigade go into the JHS so low risk of flares being let off.

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Ian Mac - The reason I used Killie to compare with is because their home support is similar to ours most weeks. I accept their stadium is bigger (not 'twice as big' tho) but there is definitely room (if we sort out the segregation) to accommodate 8000 away fans at OF games at Firhill too. We play in the same city as them so surely the demand for away tickets would be at least the same.

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I suspect net turnover from home ugly sister games will be adversely affected due to amount of stewarding. Put another way the stewarding costs at an 8000 OF game will probably be well over double that of a 4000 crowd against the likes of Motherwell. Maybe then accommodating more of the OF, assuming it was practical, wouldn't be that profitable a venture. The only way to seriously increase turnover at these matches is for more Jags non season ticket holders to turn up. And that's something that given the nature of the beast is asking a lot.

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