SPL In Crisis: The True Value Of Celtic To The Spl & How To Maintain It.

We seem to be finally approaching Hunageddon. Bidders and administrators agree that a CVA is looking unlikely (though both blame timescale and forget the creditors won’t agree) and one self serving egotistical bawbag – Brian Kennedy for those who haven’t been listening at the back – has even stated that the finances involved in a Newco are unworkable.

Kennedy pulled off an incredible piece of PR today. He told the natives of what they could have won(Souness & Smith) and they all left with their bus fare home. He threatened the administrators, which seems to be something the anyone connected or with the wish to be connected with the club seems to be good at. He made a play to be the ‘last man standing’ and I think he will be.

I also agree with CQN. FC Rangers Of Airdrie / Cowdenbeath / Queens Of The South will be in the SFL next season as it’s not financially viable and competitively prudent for them to be in the SPL.

Neil Doncaster and other assorted fruit cake chairmen and managers on-going party political broadcast about the need for a Newco in the league and the financial disaster of losing the SKY / ESPN deal -a deal that we are told is poor (something that I highlighted here months ago) – is rendered mute.

Does anyone else remember Neil Doncaster saying: “Attendances remain the lifeblood of Scottish football. We’re not blessed with the Tv deals some other leagues enjoy”. No, well you wouldn’t think it the way he has been acting.

Well, we need bums on seats. This was always going to be the case. This blog would have been written if we were talking about boycotts. I feel the need that we as a support need to fight for financial fair play in ticket prices as much as we needed to fight for sporting integrity over financial gain.

The league is at breaking point and it’s time this was put back on the agenda.

So how much more do our away fans get charged than other SPL clubs?

Rangers: £42. Other away fans are charged £28.

Aberdeen: £24 / £18 / £9. Other away fans are charged £23 / £17 / £9

Dundee United: £24 / £12. Same*

Dunfermline: £22 / £13. Other away fans are charged £20 / £12 (this has been reduced to £18 / £10 / £1 recently).

St Mirren: £25 / £15. Other away fans are charged £20 / £10.

Hearts: £29 / £19. Other away fans are charged £23 / £15 (Hearts also allow home fans in the Roseburn Lower for £17 / £13 and £23 / £15 for the higher).

Hibs: £28 / £17. Other away fans are charged £22 / £12.

Motherwell: £25 / £14. Other away fans are charged £22 / £14. (Motherwell are charging all fans £5 for their game on Sunday and do a family ticket for £25).

St.Johnstone: £23 / £11. Other away fans are charged £21 / £10.

Kilmarnock: £26 / £10 (they also charged £30 for the extra stand during the Championship winning game). Other away fans are charged £22 / £5.

Inverness: £25 / £20. Other away fans are charged £20 / £15 / £10.

*Please note that all figures are ones that I managed to get confirmed either from the clubs websites or fans that attended away games at the grounds. I fully understand that individual games may change.

So an adult going to watch Celtic will pay a total off £586 (for simplicity I have just assumed we play each other twice away). The SPL clubs will get an accumulated total of £490 from other fans. Over the course of the season Celtic fans approx give the SPL an extra £96 per head a season. Take an average of 5000 away fans per game that is £480,000 a season extra that we contribute to the SPL. Remember this figure is inflated as I calculated it being on 22 away games.

The cash cow is easy to spot.

So, what can we do to sort this? A blanket maxium admission price in the SPL must be brought in all (including the home fans whose clubs also hike up ticket prices when we visit). I would call for a blanket £15 / £5.

Remember that inflated figure? Well, do you know that it would only take an extra 32,000 fans over 38 games, an extra 843 per game to cover that loss? Also, say clubs lose £500,000 from a defunct Tv deal.
An extra 1851 per home game sorts that out.

So, teams should be looking to attract around 2700 extra fans every time they take the field.

Lower prices and correct prices will get fans back through the turnstyle. The Celtic Away support has been dwindling due to this extra charge being forced upon us. I’m sure the sold out signs would soon be seen again if we weren’t being used as the golden ticket.