No sympathy for thistle

[NAE NOOKIE]

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I can't agree I'm afraid. Geography and history have Livingston(-e) where they are in terms of fanbase. Look at where they are, right in the heart of Scotland - established in 1995 - where most people already had their pre-existing allegiances. Half of Livingston get on a bus through to Glasgow every week, the other half head to Edinburgh. Bear in mind that the sparsity of the stadium is partially the fault of the SPL, who mandated that Livingston had to have a 10k capacity stadium to get into the Premiership first time around - Livingston were never going to attract those numbers, aside from when the Ugly Sisters came to town. Add to all of that the years of financial impropriety that drove a large portion of the fans away, because it became bloody exhausting, and it's not hard to see why they don't play to a packed out stadium every week. Having said that, they DID take 2000 people to Fir Hill on Sunday - the support is there - the challenge is retention and building. I find the criticism pious in the extreme - it wasn't so long, when the football was garbage, that attendances at ER weren't exactly fabulous, and many on here got irked by Hearts fans poking fun on a weekly basis. A club that's been in existence since 1875 and play in the capital city are always going to have a higher baseline than a club like Livingston, but to ignore factors that impact attendance quite so much is poor IMO. I agree with you, it doesn't look great on the TV, but then neither does Celtc playing in a half-empty Parkhead on a weekly basis.



We agree on the plastic pitch thing - they look awful, and don't play well. I understand their thinking though, as they lost a LOT of games to the weather last year. I'm aware these pitches aren't immune to postponements, but it took 4 efforts to replay a Saturday league game vs ICT. My understanding is that it's a hybrid pitch Livingston are considering though, not just an astro surface like Hamilton or Kilmarnock.



I mean no disrespect with this question, but can I assume all you've seen of Livingston this year is the 2 playoff games? My dad is a ST holder at Almondvale, and I've been to quite a few games with him this season, and up until they lost their 2 key strikers (who can't play the physical game that Miller does), they moved the ball around the park very well indeed. The football in the playoffs was brutal, but with 15 fully fit players, they did what they had to do.



You really think Livingston vs Hamilton or Livingston vs St Johnstone are likely to be the types of games that will get onto the TV? The only time Livingston will be televised is when they're playing against the likes of Celtc, Sevco, Hibs, Hearts or Aberdeen. I agree with you, that a stadium with the smaller clubs playing each other would look dreadful on TV. But the TV companies know that, and it simply won't happen.

I'm aware of Livingston's history and well aware of the reasons for their small support. I wasn't being critical of them for not being able to attract big crowds and I have never 'poked fun' at any club who don't attract big crowds, its a fact of football life in Scotland .... I was only addressing the reality of the fact that they don't and what that brings ( or doesn't bring ) to the top flight.

I'll bow to your greater knowledge of how they play normally ... I hope you are right.

As I said in my posts ... there are two sides to the discussion, you have the sporting side where without doubt nobody can question a clubs right to play at the highest level, just as we had no right to complain about being in the championship for 3 seasons ... do it on the pitch and get the rewards, don't and suffer the consequences should always be the only thing that matters .... the 1,500 folk who follow Livvi or Hamilton regularly have just as much right to have their devotion rewarded as the 9,000 or so who will rock up at Easter Road no matter what.

The other side is the games image where clubs with two & three sided grounds, artificial pitches, meagre crowds and to a lesser extent unimaginative football do little to promote the game as a spectacle, which is what you are hoping to present it as to prospective audiences. I'm the first to admit that I have a bit of OCD when it comes to this kind of thing, to the point where seeing weeds growing on a terracing behind someone taking a corner or practice goals stacked on an empty terrace during a game in full view of the TV cameras does my bloody head in, just because you don't play in the Maracanã doesn't mean to say you should neglect small things which will show your club in a better light .... there are quite a few clubs out there who seem to think not having the money to build new stands means you shouldn't pull up a few weeds and buy a tin of paint either.

My mate ( a Jambo ) posted pictures of the stairs and exterior of Dens park two seasons ago and the place was a bloody disgrace .. the only things missing were an old mattress and a couple of discarded fridges. Even the Hibs calendar does my head in every year, surely the backdrop to the picture of your professional soccer heroes should be the crowd ( not a problem at ER these days ) not some bland green sheet or rows of empty seats .... image, image, image ... it matters and its something the SFA, SPFL and too many clubs ignore.

Sorry about the tangent

[Stranraer]

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I have sympathy for them. Their fans could just as easily take the bus to support Rangers or Celtic but they don't. Good supporters.

Agree with this completely - good on the folk who go and watch Thistle instead of the old firm. That being said they were horrendous to watch and Callum Booth would be more than welcome back at Hibs in my view,

[BILLYHIBS]

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I'm aware of Livingston's history and well aware of the reasons for their small support. I wasn't being critical of them for not being able to attract big crowds and I have never 'poked fun' at any club who don't attract big crowds, its a fact of football life in Scotland .... I was only addressing the reality of the fact that they don't and what that brings ( or doesn't bring ) to the top flight.

I'll bow to your greater knowledge of how they play normally ... I hope you are right.

As I said in my posts ... there are two sides to the discussion, you have the sporting side where without doubt nobody can question a clubs right to play at the highest level, just as we had no right to complain about being in the championship for 3 seasons ... do it on the pitch and get the rewards, don't and suffer the consequences should always be the only thing that matters .... the 1,500 folk who follow Livvi or Hamilton regularly have just as much right to have their devotion rewarded as the 9,000 or so who will rock up at Easter Road no matter what.

The other side is the games image where clubs with two & three sided grounds, artificial pitches, meagre crowds and to a lesser extent unimaginative football do little to promote the game as a spectacle, which is what you are hoping to present it as to prospective audiences. I'm the first to admit that I have a bit of OCD when it comes to this kind of thing, to the point where seeing weeds growing on a terracing behind someone taking a corner or practice goals stacked on an empty terrace during a game in full view of the TV cameras does my bloody head in, just because you don't play in the Maracanã doesn't mean to say you should neglect small things which will show your club in a better light .... there are quite a few clubs out there who seem to think not having the money to build new stands means you shouldn't pull up a few weeds and buy a tin of paint either.

My mate ( a Jambo ) posted pictures of the stairs and exterior of Dens park two seasons ago and the place was a bloody disgrace .. the only things missing were an old mattress and a couple of discarded fridges. Even the Hibs calendar does my head in every year, surely the backdrop to the picture of your professional soccer heroes should be the crowd ( not a problem at ER these days ) not some bland green sheet or rows of empty seats .... image, image, image ... it matters and its something the SFA, SPFL and too many clubs ignore.

Sorry about the tangent

HIBS calender does ma heid in get to about June and our pinup heroes for one reason or another have left. I suppose it is something that cannot be helped and would like to think that our squad retention is better than at most clubs.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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HIBS calender does ma heid in get to about June and our pinup heroes for one reason or another have left. I suppose it is something that cannot be helped and would like to think that our squad retention is better than at most clubs.

Yeh ... Anthony Stokes and Simon Murray are May this year ... mind you, ones a legend and the other is still our player.

I get that its impossible to have crowd shots with some players ... but that's not the case with the likes of Hanlon, Stevenson, McGregor and the like and I just don't get why they don't do it.

[Jones28]

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Personally I don’t have sympathy for any team that get relegated.
Including us.

A team that gets promoted deserves to be there, especially one who wins multiple play-off games to gwet there.

[Borderhibbie76]

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Correct. There is zero fanbase at livi and the empty stadium every two weeks looks terrible for Scottish football. Another plastic pitch just makes it worse.

They had decent attendances at both play off matches against United and thistle...and they filled almost the entire away stand at Firhill...nowt to suggest they won't get those types of crowds in prem next season. Other than the plastic pitch don't get the snobbery on here...they deserve to be where they are

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[keep the faith]

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They had decent attendances at both play off matches against United and thistle...and they filled almost the entire away stand at Firhill...nowt to suggest they won't get those types of crowds in prem next season. Other than the plastic pitch don't get the snobbery on here...they deserve to be where they are

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Your basing their fanbase on play off finals. Not realistic. Get ready to see more games in our top league where you can hear the players shouting for the ball.
They came up the hard way and for that reason the team deserve to be here. However my own personal view is that the club offer little to the top flight.

[Hamish]

Callum Booth signs for Dundee Utd.

[PatHead]

Are they becoming a wannabe Hibs? Stanton, Fyvie, Keatings and now Booth.

[CMurdoch]

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Are they becoming a wannabe Hibs? Stanton, Fyvie, Keatings and now Booth.

Looks like they are getting a decent team together.
Sadly for them they lost Fraser at the end of his contract but a fit Fyvie and Keatings will improve their chances.
They have also lost a whole host of old duffers: Fudd, McDonald etc so all good.

[Stuart93]

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Looks like they are getting a decent team together.
Sadly for them they lost Fraser at the end of his contract but a fit Fyvie and Keatings will improve their chances.
They have also lost a whole host of old duffers: Fudd, McDonald etc so all good.

A decent team at championship level anyway

[PatHead]

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A decent team at championship level anyway

Their centre backs were awful. Need them replaced.

[BlackSheep]

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Are they becoming a wannabe Hibs? Stanton, Fyvie, Keatings and now Booth.

Well they were Dundee Hibernian 😂😂😂

[BILLYHIBS]

No sympathy for Dundee United either.

They celebrated like they had just won the league when they beat us at Christmas at Tannadice the last season we were down there. Big mistake!