Finally, after 6 months, fans were allowed back into football stadiums, be it a tiny portion of the amount that would normally fill the stands and under stringent new rules, but the most important point is they were back, and oh how Scottish football needs them.
Portions of the media weren’t overly enthused by the six hundred fans selected to go watch Aberdeen grind out a victory against Kilmarnock and Celitc thump Ross County, with supporters made to silently sit through the torture and jubilation of watching their teams battle it out on the pitch – one of the conditions of the return was no shouting or chanting.
-Reaction: The top four emerge as Aberdeen beat Killie 1-0
Questions are the new certainty in society and the questions being weighed up here are; is the ‘select 600’ who were allowed to watch their sides cause for celebration, risky, or a lacklustre step as figures reveal how crucial it is for fans to return to stadiums?
Matchday sales massive to club finances
“Scottish football’s been kicked in the teeth so much this past six months it’s come to the point the face of football is almost all gums.”
Accountancy behemoth Deloitte calculates that in Scotland matchday revenue accounts for almost half of club finances.
In the 2018/19 season, of the £221m of revenue generated by the SPFL, £107m came from matchday sales.
It’s estimated that with the completion of the 2019/20 Scottish Cup to take place behind closed doors, over four million pounds of ticket sales could be lost.
Hampden is a cavernous theatre of football triumph and tragedy and many a Scottish Cup semi-final and final is remembered being fought for behind a backdrop of empty seats as the smaller sides struggle to fill the stands, however last year’s delayed competition contains four of Scotland’s biggest club sides and an Edinburgh derby to boot.
Aberdeen play Celtic and Hearts play Hibernian for a place in the historic final, all the remaining matches being played at Scottish football’s national stadium, and all three matches most likely to be held behind closed doors.
FM – “Some time yet”
Aberdeen are hoping to host 700 select fans when they welcome Scotland’s 2019/20 best of the rest winners Motherwell to Pittodrie on Sunday.
However these plans have been placed on a knife edge with supporters returning to stadiums delayed by three weeks to the 5th of October due to a current rise in covid-19 cases.
To add more woe to an already woeful 2020 all dates are viewed as ‘indicative’ and will be reviewed closer to the time. Bets on the First Minister bringing deadlines forward?
“Huge amount at stake” and won
SPFL chairman Neil Doncaster said there was a huge amount on the line at the two games in Aberdeen and Dingwall.
If anything had gone wrong it would have put a further nail in the coffin of fans returning after the much documented misdemeanours at Celtic and Aberdeen that made the First Minister place the re-establishment of Scottish football on a “yellow card”.
Doncaster has made it clear how vital the SPFL view fans returning to stadiums saying clubs need fans back in stadia in order to survive economically and a clear route map to getting the fans back needs to be drawn.
One of the stops on that route was Saturday’s two fixtures where the supporters behaved exemplary to make sure the events went off without a hitch.
Scottish football has been kicked in the teeth so much this past six months it’s come to the point the face of football is almost all gums.
Hopefully now, players, supporters and everyone associated with the national game might see a bit of reward for their hard work and patience.
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 