St Johnstone are to be applauded for their decision on Celtic’s potential league decider.

The news today that St Johnstone are to give Celtic three stands for the upcoming league match between the two clubs – a game that might confirm us as champions – is tremendous.

It really is one of the best things I’ve heard from another club in this league for quite a while. It’s not only a victory for common sense but a victory for our fans and for their club too, because we will pack those stands out. We will fill that ground for them and ensure they get a nice little payday, even as we prepare to celebrate a title triumph.

There is work to do before we get there, of course. We have games to win and points to put on the board. But at least we now know that if those points are secured and we get the chance to go to Perth and celebrate the title, we’ll be able to do it in front of a large number of our own supporters. And St Johnstone could not have done more to make sure that the maximum number of our fans can attend the game. That should not be forgotten by Celtic supporters.

This is one of those moves that has the double advantage of being both altruistic and self-serving at the same time. Quite amazing, really. And it’s a wonder to me that more Scottish clubs don’t think in these terms.

It is ridiculous how many games you watch these days that are played in front of half-empty stands. St Johnstone, at least, have guaranteed that won’t happen. It’s a showpiece game. It’s going to be a massive match. And it deserves to be played in front of a full house.

But it’s also now a warm-up for the Hampden clash in the cup semi-final, which gives it even more zip and energy—not that it will need it. There will be energy enough at Perth if it’s a title decider.

I wrote last week that the clubs had to get together and do it quickly so this was arranged and sorted well in advance, and it’s great to see that St Johnstone and Celtic have done just that. It’s great to see that the two clubs have had their meetings, discussed the arrangements, and resolved this in a manner that satisfies everyone.

If only it were this easy to work on relations with all the clubs in the league. But some seem intent on making the lives of Celtic fans as difficult as possible. And yes, I include the club across the city in that. It’s going to be very interesting to see how well their fans behave come the weekend.

But at least St Johnstone have shown some common sense. And yes, I’m sure there is a selfish motive here. They’re not playing particularly well, they’re not riding high in the league, and the chances are that a Celtic title decider wasn’t going to be played in front of anything like a full house if they restricted our attendance to a couple of stands or even one. So, a club that badly needs the income has decided to maximise its earning opportunities. That’s fine. That makes perfect sense.

But incredibly, we’re sitting here praising a common-sense decision because common sense is in such short supply in this league.

Too many teams would be willing to leave money on the table, even though they don’t have much of it, just to disenfranchise our supporters. And you cannot see it any other way. These aren’t clubs prioritising their own fans’ tickets. Their own fans don’t want to attend games often enough to justify such a call.

So what you get is a league of clubs that constantly plead poverty, yet allow thousands of empty seats at matches against the biggest clubs in the country. And we can go through all the rights and wrongs here and point the finger of blame at the club from Ibrox for having caused all this in the first place—I firmly believe they did—but their fans have been affected as much as ours by this silliness.

Any outbreak of common sense is to be applauded. Any realisation by clubs that their policies are self-destructive and stupid is to be welcomed.

The circumstances of this particular game are unique because there is a possibility that it will be a title-deciding match. I don’t expect that we’ll get the same red carpet rolled out every time we play there.

But this is a step towards fixing what has become a major issue in our league, and the fact that so many of our fans will now be allowed to attend the match is to be celebrated, regardless of what motivates the decision.

All that matters is that the right decision has been made, and more of our fans can now go. It’s tremendous news, and we should all be grateful to St Johnstone for coming to this decision early and offering fans the chance to watch the team win the title.

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

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