Did we send a message to Scottish football on Saturday?

[NAE NOOKIE]

Saturday was our worst turnout for a semi final at Hampden for a good few years. Even given the same circumstances with KO time and live TV we have taken bigger supports.

If you ask me Celtic were the biggest factor in this, we don't have a particular problem with them like we do with the Huns so far as the potential for trouble goes, so what put most casual fans off was the fact ( and it is a fact ) that our chances of winning that game were considerably worse than against any other club in Scotland.

Its noticeable that what used to be a main attraction for most clubs no longer has the drawing power it used to. I'm willing to bet the home turnouts for many clubs are as high, if not higher, for games against Aberdeen or us for example than for Celtic and its simply due to the fact that Celtic are as unbeatable now as they have been at practically any time in their history .... people are simply fed up of a club so far ahead of everybody else financially that they have made themselves unwatchable to fans of other clubs.

We have given them more of a game than practically anybody over the last few season, but at the end on Saturday their fans were so underwhelmed by the victory that 50% of them couldn't even be bothered to stick around and clap their team off the pitch. They didn't view beating Hibs as anything more than what was expected of them and the question has to be, if this continues how long will it be before folk stop going to watch Celtic in their own stadium?

I remember the days not too long ago when losing to Celtic would have depressed the hell out of me, but now its so predictable that I was able to brush off Saturday 5 minutes after the game was finished and I'm willing to bet that goes for fans of practically every club these days ..... how long until Celtic's fans get as bored with watching them win as we all are watching them winning? If you ask me our poor turnout and their desertion of the stadium at the end of the semi final are both signs that fans of the other clubs are sick of their dominance to the point of not turning out and that same dominance is making watching them utterly lacking in excitement for their own fans. When winning is no longer an achievement what's the point of it.

I cant help thinking Celtic are not too far away from being victims of their own success ... they could do worse than chuck the League cup final for their own good.

[MWHIBBIES]

Having a slim chance of winning is such a **** reason not to go and see your team. Why should they bother if we dont?

If we had won on Saturday it wouldve been incredible, well worth the risk of defeat. I couldnt really care less about Celtic and their success, Hibs are all that matter.

[CentreLine]

No, not getting much from those reasons. Actually I thought there was every reason to be optimistic about our chances on Saturday. We certainly laid down a marker at Parkhead and are probably the only team in Scotland to actually have a go at them. Something they are not used to and I believe they are vulnerable to it. As it happens we put two past them but conceded poor goals at the other end. Yes they were favourites but I just do not see that as the reason for our "poor" attendance.
We shifted 11,000 seats, not bad for the "wee cup" semi-final.

[Carheenlea]

A lot of Celtic fans aren't just going for the football. They expect to win, so their day out is a social occasion consisting of republican sing alongs, jaunty country folk and faux Irishness. It's a safe day out, as they win most of their games, but while you would expect the novelty of doing that every week would wear off, the Celtic support don't seem to ever get enough of it. Their crowds won't be dropping any time soon.

[WeeRussell]

Nope. And your final sentence can't be serious?

As for them on Saturday, the 'best fans in the world' have been leaving before laps of honour and trophy presentations for years, it's nothing new.

Oh, and I do have a particular problem with them, it's just not as big and particular as the one I have with their ugly sisters

[Wilson]

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Having a slim chance of winning is such a **** reason not to go and see your team. Why should they bother if we dont?

If we had won on Saturday it wouldve been incredible, well worth the risk of defeat. I couldnt really care less about Celtic and their success, Hibs are all that matter.

We must have gone to semi finals with a worse chance of winning? Poorer hibs sides have played better Old Firm sides over the years...

We had just come close to beating Celtic and we were playing them again in similar circumstances (their having just played in Europe). If this wasn't a good opportunity to see us beat them in a semi final then I'm not sure what WOULD constitute a good one.

Somehow the bulk of the fair weather just didn't go for it. I don't think we can narrow it down to one reason.

[Ronniekirk]

I was on holiday or would have been there But agree its boring watching Celtic win week in week out domestically
If Aberdeen cant beat them this midweek then they could well do the Treble again
They. Didn't need to be at their best but the quality of players to come off the bench made sure they had enough to see the game out
So i think the crowd would of been better if it was nt October holiday week ,but agree fans have stayed away feeling we couldn't win it The other stuff about on TV and early kick off were secondary to the Celtic Factor



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[Killiehibbie]

I know a couple of celtic season ticket holders who gave up 10 years ago because they were bored watching teams go to parkhead and not even try to win.

[blackpoolhibs]

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I know a couple of celtic season ticket holders who gave up 10 years ago because they were bored watching teams go to parkhead and not even try to win.

I know a few Hibs fans who stopped going to Easter road, although it was Hibs teams that were hardly trying to win.

[JeMeSouviens]

Celtc fans *had* started to get bored and drift away but the appearance of (and chance to lord it over) the New Huns has given them a new lease of life. I can imagine this will last through 10 in a row but if the New Huns don't put up a meaningful challenge, and it's hard to see where the money for that would come from, then we might start to see their crowds go down again.

[Smartie]

As a fan who went to every Hibs game home and away, and every Scotland home game (and a few away ones) I was getting increasingly frustrated that fans going to games were overlooked in favour of the armchair fans.

So I stopped going to as many games. The Internationals rarely fit into my schedule so they've been easy to give up and watch at home.

I actually fancied our chances on Saturday. We gave them a fright a few weeks ago, they were coming off a big game in Munich with another one this week against Aberdeen. I thought we had what it took to put them on the back foot, make them uncomfortable and get a result, and if it wasn't for the silly mistakes we made that you simply can't afford to make against them, we would have got a result.

I just can't justify, in my financial position, that ticket price and an early trek through to Glasgow for a game that is on tv, in the League Cup that I can watch from my sofa.

The easier the authorities make it for people to do as I do, the more people will do it.

I used to get annoyed when my "uberfan-ness" was challenged but that stopped when I was about 16, so I don't care any more what anyone thinks about my reasons for going to games/ avoiding going to games.

I get my season ticket, go to all our home games and will go to away ones, semi-finals and cup finals as the mood takes me.

Celtic and their perceived strength has nothing to do with it.

[fulshie]

Personally, I go to games to watch Hibs on the strength that, that's team I support. I don't go to games on the strength of how good our bad the opposition is. I also don't agree with the assumption that Celtic will be a victim of their own success as they have so many glory hunters. In saying that, they we're winning the league under Ronnie Dailia (not sure of spelling) and closed the top tier of their stadium because they weren't playing attractive football (best fans in the world eh!). Now though they're winning every week and winning all domestic trophies and I don't think anyone would bet against them doing the treble again and, they're also playing more attractive football and now their stadium is bursting at the seams. I don't know the main issues as to why our support was lower than normal at a cup semi and I don't pretend to do so but I simply don't think it was down to how good Celtic are. We've played them twice and we've took 4 goals of them (They're not that good).

[Iggy Pope]

Not worth six paragraphs on the OP. One will cover it.
Semi finals at Hampden should be well attended by Hibbies, no matter the opposition or their form.

[brog]

I wouldn't completely disagree with the OP but I think the changes made to the format may have also devalued the League Cup competition. It was crazy that 2 of the 4 semi finalists had already played 6 games to get there whereas it was only the 3rd game for the uglies & they had been seeded for one of those. We shouldn't get too excited however. AFAIK that was the 1st time in my lifetime that we had played a LC semi at Hampden on a weekend. Our last 2 semis at Hampden were against Oldco & Ayr & attracted less than 28 & 12k respectively. I think we were seduced by the fact that we've recently been used to taking in excess of 20k to Hampden for our many big cup semi finals. We took 15k on Saturday, that's actually possibly our biggest travelling support for a (non Final) league cup game in living memory.

[Sir David Gray]

Anybody who decides not to go to a football match because they don't think their team will win needs to get themselves a new hobby.

[hibee]

School holidays were surely a factor too, I just got back from Spain today and only one of our group of ST holders wasn’t away, he didn’t go on his own.

Must have been plenty others away too.

[Hermit Crab]

The only message we sent was that we cant sell 20k tickets that we asked to the SFA to give us for a major cup semi final. Embarrassing.

[blackpoolhibs]

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The only message we sent was that we cant sell 20k tickets that we asked to the SFA to give us for a major cup semi final. Embarrassing.

Hahahahaha, i'm not in the least bit embarrassed.

[Hermit Crab]

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Hahahahaha, i'm not in the least bit embarrassed.

Didn't expect you be, sat in your arse groove in Blackpool.

[blackpoolhibs]

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Didn't expect you be, sat in your arse groove in Blackpool.

Aye because you know everything dont you?

Tickets bought, hotel booked for the friday on Argyle St, and back goes on wednesday to put paid to all of that. Not an excuse because i dont need an excuse, a reason why i was not there.

And £38 twice since to see a chiropractor just to get me upright enough to walk and be able to get into a car and up the road tomorrow if all goes well.

But if it doesn't, i wont be embarrassed if my seat is empty either.

Embarrassed.

[marinello59]

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The only message we sent was that we cant sell 20k tickets that we asked to the SFA to give us for a major cup semi final. Embarrassing.

It’s not embarrassing at all. I’m pretty proud of the support we did take.

[Famous Fiver]

As Bill Clinton said 'It's the economy, stupid'

Expecting fans to cough up £30 (more than £100 quid) for a family during school holidays, with a 12.15 kick off, 40 odd miles away, and live on telly which many fans will already have paid for is nothing short of arrogance or madness, or both. £5 for a programme, £3.80 for a tray of chips, £3.50 for a wee plastic bottle of Pepsi. Christmas is coming up. Need I go on? The Scottish football authorities are so out of touch with the ordinary fan it beggars belief.

We did well to get the crowd we did.

And, by the way, 40,000 Rangers fans went missing (far more empty seats than Hibs managed) on Sunday and not a word said. Snow off a dyke. At least our 11,000 stuck it out to the bitter end and applauded our team.

[emerald green]

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We took 15k on Saturday, that's actually possibly our biggest travelling support for a (non Final) league cup game in living memory.

I understood that Hibs sold 11,000 for Saturday's match. Is that incorrect?

[The Modfather]

I can never remember if folk are happy that the “day trippers” didn’t go and was just the hard core at the game, or whether it’s embarrassing that the “day trippers” didn’t dust down there scarves for their annual Hampden trips.

[Hermit Crab]

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I understood that Hibs sold 11,000 for Saturday's match. Is that incorrect?

Thats correct.

[emerald green]

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Thats correct.

Thanks.

[blackpoolhibs]

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I can never remember if folk are happy that the “day trippers” didn’t go and was just the hard core at the game, or whether it’s embarrassing that the “day trippers” didn’t dust down there scarves for their annual Hampden trips.

Spot on.

[Hibbyradge]

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Not worth six paragraphs on the OP. One will cover it.
Semi finals at Hampden should be well attended by Hibbies, no matter the opposition or their form.

It was well attended.

11500 is more than our average home gate was for most of this decade and you'll remember much lower attendances than that in the 80s.

[Hibbyradge]

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Anybody who decides not to go to a football match because they don't think their team will win needs to get themselves a new hobby.

Or maybe they can just go to the games they're confident about?

Why do you think crowds increase when teams are winning regularly?

[erin go bragh]

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Thats correct.

So Celtic sell their 22k allocation,then receive 3k more in the south upper.
Attendance just over 39k. Now I'm no Pythagoras but does that not mean we took just over 14k ( we certainly souded at least that )