Taking The Scottish Cup For Granted

[Kingsmills]

Here we are again in the quarter finals of the nation's premier knockout tournament. A great achievement especially set against our terrible season in the league so far.

Yet, despite that fact that ticket prices have been set well below league levels, it looks as though the crowd will be around the 4,000 mark with at least a quarter of those supporting the opposition.

Contrast that to a number of years ago when more than twice as many turned up to watch us play Kilmarnock than attended to watch the same opposition last week or the 6,000 or so of us who eagerly travelled to Tannadice to watch our first quarter final after Telford Street was deemed unsuitable to host Rangers despite Caley entertaining them in front of a full house without incident only a few seasons before.

I can think of Caley playing host to the likes of Airdrie and St Johnstone and the Jags entertaining Kilmarnock in earlier round of the tournament all in front of larger crowds than we are expecting for the Falkirk game. I bet if any of the three Inverness teams had made the quarter finals back in the Highland League days there would have been a full house with tickets like gold dust no matter what the opposition.

Why is it do you think that we now seem to take this tournament that many of us thought so glamorous before for granted ?

[Guest Muir-Jaggie]

i think alot of fans are more for the league rather than the cups. i like both, like the club moving up the table but also like have a good cup run. playing against all other divisions showing what they can do against the big guns in the SPL

[Scotty]

because we play these teams so many times over the course of a season the novelty factor has worn off. Add economy woes to that and despite the cheaper ticket prices, many will simply not go.

[Iain]

It's a mystery, I personally look forwards to the sottish cup from the start of the season hoping for a decent run.

[Guest birdog]

because we play these teams so many times over the course of a season the novelty factor has worn off. Add economy woes to that and despite the cheaper ticket prices, many will simply not go.

I think you got it there Scotty, where before a visit of Premier League opposition was a big thing it is just the norm now and when the lower league teams come a calling we have gotten to a stage where we look down on them. No real romance of getting one over on a "big" team any more, unless the OF come up in the draw.

[Kingsmills]

So am I alone then in still finding the Scottsh Cup more exciting than the league ?

[Guest birdog]

Nope. The Scottish cup has always been my favourite tournament, I have been to a minimum of one round per year since I was in school, despite having a job which see me being at sea a lot of the time, even visiting other teams to keep the run going if I miss any of our ties and we are out.

[Caley Stan]

I'm with you Kingsmills. The cup allows us to dream; of Hampden, of Europe and of silverware. Many of my favourite games supporting Caley and ICT have been cup games. The romance is definitely still alive for me.

I think Scotty's hit the nail on the head though. The monotony of the SPL means that many season ticket holders and others may see cup Saturday's as an opportunity to do something else.

[alternative maryhill]

I love the Scottish Cup. The 3-1 against Hearts at Tynecastle is my favourite game ever, I think - better even than the Celtic game. The two semi-finals we reached were also tremendous days out despite the results.

What worries me about the apparent apathy is that if we do reach a semi again, we might take as lot less than the 8,000 or so that we took to the Dundee and Dunfermline games. Don't quite know how the rules work, but if we only took 5,000 to a semi, is it possible our allocation for a final against, say, one of the old firm, would be limited to 7 or 8,000? Because no doubt thousands of people would come out of the woodwork if we actually reached a final and we'd sell that easily. I've got this terror of missing out on a final ticket because I don't have a season ticket, even though I've barely missed an away game this season.

Sorry - jumping the gun a little here...

[Guest birdog]

Join the supporters club Alt Maryhill, probably the cheapest way to get priority tickets.

[alternative maryhill]

Join the supporters club Alt Maryhill, probably the cheapest way to get priority tickets.

You know something? That's never occurred to me! I guess it's because I've lived away from Inverness since the merger and have just gone to games under my own steam - never thought I'd have any need of the supporters club. Might do that, though - thanks.

[BornCaley]

Im in agreement with all on this thread, a mixture of complacency and the novelty has worn off. However if we did make the Europa cup, i bet you we would fill the TCS even if we got a low division amateur team from Wales

[L_G]

I love the Scottish Cup. The 3-1 against Hearts at Tynecastle is my favourite game ever, I think - better even than the Celtic game. The two semi-finals we reached were also tremendous days out despite the results.

What worries me about the apparent apathy is that if we do reach a semi again, we might take as lot less than the 8,000 or so that we took to the Dundee and Dunfermline games. Don't quite know how the rules work, but if we only took 5,000 to a semi, is it possible our allocation for a final against, say, one of the old firm, would be limited to 7 or 8,000? Because no doubt thousands of people would come out of the woodwork if we actually reached a final and we'd sell that easily. I've got this terror of missing out on a final ticket because I don't have a season ticket, even though I've barely missed an away game this season.

Sorry - jumping the gun a little here...

I think we will get a bit enough allocation at Hampden for this not to be a problem. I'm confident we can reach the semi final and hopeful we could make a final. Would love a trip to Hampden (or two).

Edited February 12, 2009 by L_G
Adding text

[The Mantis]

For Caley and Jags, every year you still had to qualify so the Cup was like Europe to us.

I still love it though.

[Joe DiMaggio]

I love the Scottish Cup. The 3-1 against Hearts at Tynecastle is my favourite game ever, I think - better even than the Celtic game. The two semi-finals we reached were also tremendous days out despite the results.

What worries me about the apparent apathy is that if we do reach a semi again, we might take as lot less than the 8,000 or so that we took to the Dundee and Dunfermline games. Don't quite know how the rules work, but if we only took 5,000 to a semi, is it possible our allocation for a final against, say, one of the old firm, would be limited to 7 or 8,000? Because no doubt thousands of people would come out of the woodwork if we actually reached a final and we'd sell that easily. I've got this terror of missing out on a final ticket because I don't have a season ticket, even though I've barely missed an away game this season.

Sorry - jumping the gun a little here...

We would get as many tickets as we needed prob. I've always wondered how may we would take if we got to the final. I actaully think we could sell out half the stadium which taking away sponsers is 22,000. QOS got 17,500 tickets and they were sold out in a matter of days. Even Gretna had 12,000 that sold out quite quick. I think that we could shift 22,000

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

The prices at the QF should be dropped to ?15 and ?10 fer both supports - then we could probably pack the place. The cup has had some great atmospheres - but mostly away from home - when we are packed in - Hearts was great but what about Midden 1-0 or Well 1-0 ?

[Scotty]

The prices at the QF should be dropped to ?15 and ?10 fer both supports - then we could probably pack the place. The cup has had some great atmospheres - but mostly away from home - when we are packed in - Hearts was great but what about Midden 1-0 or Well 1-0 ?

http://community.caleythistleonline.com/in...mp;#entry169994

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Sometimes my powers of second sight feckin amaze me.

[Scotty]

me too - especially when your predictions are posted 24 hours after the answer

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

You are in another time zone and another continent - I am in another time warp and another planet - give me a feckin break

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

You are in another time zone and another continent - I am in another time warp and another planet - give me a feckin break

And you're often no sure what day it is!

[Tug]

see i have a dilemma this year

have missed all cup games so far owing to a dispute with the wife but then we started winning in the cup and now im scared of being a jinx

[Scarlet Pimple]

Prices too high contributing to the apathy.

Also I think it is high time that the SPL was increased to 16 teams. That would surely spark some new life into this league with the injectioin of new blood . It really is tiresome playing the same old few teams week in week out.

For goodness sake, under the current system we are forced to get to know every player in all the teams to stave off the boredom.....

[tokelyisvictorious]

If the club made a big fuss about the cup then i'm sure we would get about 6000 for the falkirk game. Say if Butch came out a couple of days before and stated: this cup game is a huge chance/biggest game so far. I'm sure a couple of thousand more would come along. I mean, i sit in section H, and there are people sitting around me who, like myself, haven't missed a league game for years; then they are nowhere to be seen for the cup games. Its downright strange.

Anybody else think that if we weren't in our current position then we would pull bigger crowd? Everyone is focussed on the league, the cup just seems like a bit of a distraction for most.

[latviaman]

You are in another time zone and another continent - I am in another time warp and another planet - give me a feckin break

As am I, but you make me laugh with your banter, and everyone bites!!but I didn't know that Latvia was degenerated to another planet, mind you with electricity up by 30% this year, will have to cut down on posts