Originally Posted by
NAE NOOKIE
Fair enough FDR .... But that's a different argument. The question was, would the rise of another professional club in north Edinburgh affect Hibs? Its no secret that Spartans goal is to become part of the "mental" professional game is it not?
If of your estimated 500 Hibs fans at Ainslie Park on Saturday 400 of them see Spartans as an alternative to giving up football altogether then fine I suppose. But if the remaining 100 have switched allegiance from Hibs to Spartans for whatever reason then the case is made for Spartans being a bad thing for Hibs in the long run.
Nobody has a duty to go to football or even follow a particular team if they don't want to. But its the very essence of being a fan that if you have chosen to follow a club your loyalty is to that club above all others, no matter what. That's the thing that stops us being just another punter like customers at TESCO ..... I know clubs take the piss out of fans by using that loyalty by the way I'm not that daft.
Hibs as far as I can see cant afford to be losing fans to anybody, especially a potential rival on our own doorstep. If Hibs average this season is 9,000 over 18 games that means that 9,000 folk watched Hibs 18 times ..... not that Hibs have 162,000 fans. In view of that, if Spartans aim is to go pro ( and it is ) which by definition means they will be competing with Hibs for support, then I don't care if they are run by Mother Theresa and use their gate money to feed orphans and rescue puppies, I want them to fail.
Sorry to rant, but that's my view of it.