Worst Scottish Cup attendance in 27 years

[dougal 246]

Sitting in the boozer last night the topic came up regarding the attendance in the afternoon or lack of it that should be.

Don’t think I’ve seen the official attendance released and although social distancing was being honoured its got to be very worrying for the so called guardians of ICT.

Never has there been a poorer Scottish cup attendance witnessed in Inverness and I include Inverness Thistle in that although they probably had one similar v Civil Service Strollers in the early nineties.

The disengagement between the club and fans has hit an all time low in my opinion. 
As Delia Smith once famously said where are you? 
 

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by dougal

[Kingsmills 6,526]

Whilst there is an ongoing issue with the club engaging with fans, I don't think that had much to do with the sparse attendance on Saturday.

More to do with the weather, fixture fatigue and the game and playing familiar opponents.

[dougal 246]

3 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

Whilst there is an ongoing issue with the club engaging with fans, I don't think that had much to do with the sparse attendance on Saturday.

More to do with the weather, fixture fatigue and the game and playing familiar opponents.

So other than the Civil Service Strollers game at Kingsmills is it the worst attended Scottish Cup game In living memory?

Dougal

 

 

[Jack Waddington 433]

Nowhere near as low as the attendance when we pumped Edinburgh City for 6. According to Wikipedia, there was only 672 people there...

However I'm fairly certain there has been bleaker attendances.

EDIT: Just gone back through wikipedia, and that's the lowest home attendance we have ever had in the Scottish Cup. Even brought more against Whitehill Welfare in the 1997-98 edition of the cup...

Edited November 29, 2021 by Jack Waddington

[ictewd 13]

790 attended on Saturday according to BBC

[TheMantis 1,812]

2 hours ago, Jack Waddington said:

Nowhere near as low as the attendance when we pumped Edinburgh City for 6. According to Wikipedia, there was only 672 people there...

However I'm fairly certain there has been bleaker attendances.

EDIT: Just gone back through wikipedia, and that's the lowest home attendance we have ever had in the Scottish Cup. Even brought more against Whitehill Welfare in the 1997-98 edition of the cup...

I would take some of those figures with a pinch of salt Jack. I was at that Whitehill game and it was far more than 1173. In fact the stadium was busier that day than 2 weeks later against Forfar, which was reported as 1521. Whitehill were one of the top non-league clubs back then, we were just getting established in div 2, and the Scottish was still a big draw for our fans.
Without defaming anybody in charge (maybe they're a' deid now anyway) it has to be said fiddling opponents out of cup gate money is widespread and our club is as guilty as any other.

[Satan 585]

Ah, the old dodgy numbers chestnut. 

[Kingsmills 6,526]

8 hours ago, TheMantis said:

I would take some of those figures with a pinch of salt Jack. I was at that Whitehill game and it was far more than 1173. In fact the stadium was busier that day than 2 weeks later against Forfar, which was reported as 1521. Whitehill were one of the top non-league clubs back then, we were just getting established in div 2, and the Scottish was still a big draw for our fans.
Without defaming anybody in charge (maybe they're a' deid now anyway) it has to be said fiddling opponents out of cup gate money is widespread and our club is as guilty as any other.

Although not quite as guilty as our neighbours in Dingwall who employ the simple formula of counting everyone though the turnstiles for a lesgue match twice but only every alternative person entering the ground for cup fixtures.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Kingsmills

[RiG 3,840]

Given our recent match attendances for league games have clearly been the work of fiction I don't think we are in a position to criticise any other side for doing the same.

[dougal 246]

1 hour ago, RiG said:

Given our recent match attendances for league games have clearly been the work of fiction I don't think we are in a position to criticise any other side for doing the same.

I agree with this however I’m still astonished that 792 was given as the official attendance  it looked half of that at best.

What really concerns me is what a tie like Saturday cost the club. Once the match day staff are paid the stewarding/policing heating/lighting and of course Morton taking half the ticket sales basically all money taken in is gone.

My conclusion being that home cup ties are not sustainable we sadly don’t have the home fan base.

Some members on here need to see the full picture on what’s going on here and stop continually  fretting about what our Highland neighbours are doing.

It’s not healthy and puts them in the same league as the old firm mindset of obsessiveness 

Dougal
 

 

 

[Kingsmills 6,526]

The under reporting of crowds by the home team when gate receipts are shared has been an issue since the advent of the professional game.

It was more of an issue when the takings from league matches were shared in the same way that cup tie receipts are now.

Celtic, in the biscuit tin era, were particularly serious offenders often under reporting crowds by 10,000 or more.

[DoofersDad 4,269]

792 sounds about right to me but it is still an absolutely woeful number.  Even if we were to keep all of the gate receipts, a crowd of that size would not cover the costs.  It was certainly chilly on Saturday but it was actually a rather good day for a game of football, so I'm not sure how many folk were put off by the weather.  The fact is that crowds have been dwindling for years.  We can all speculate on the reasons for that and there will be several reasons. The question is, how can we reverse that trend?

[+Fraz 1,465]

1 minute ago, DoofersDad said:

The fact is that crowds have been dwindling for years.  We can all speculate on the reasons for that and there will be several reasons. The question is, how can we reverse that trend?

No easy answers but perhaps the club could initiate some kind of fan's forum or a focus group to throw around ideas? They'd be daft to not want to try and involve fans as much as possible right? To just blank them and ignore would only foster more disengagement from the 'masses' you would think. 🤔

[dougal 246]

The problem with fan lead groups etc they are on a hiding to nothing with the ICT board. They are simply not interested in the fans point of view they never have been and that goes for before, during and after the birth. 
Having said that some of the toppers that were involved in these groups in the past weren’t even ICT supporters so the credibility diminishes.

 

Dougal
 

[+bughtmaster 1,026]

Dougal I suggest you should go back to your stone ie if you can remember where it is.... pointer Negativity Palace somewhere in Dingwall.

[Kingsmills 6,526]

2 hours ago, bughtmaster said:

Dougal I suggest you should go back to your stone ie if you can remember where it is.... pointer Negativity Palace somewhere in Dingwall.

I very seldom find myself in agreement with Dougal, indeed, more often than not, I profoundly disagree with him.

However, he never breaches site rules and is as entitled to his views, however negative they may be, as anyone.

[+Fraz 1,465]

2 hours ago, dougal said:

The problem with fan lead groups etc they are on a hiding to nothing with the ICT board. They are simply not interested in the fans point of view
 

Don't often agree with you Dougal but the evidence would suggest this is bang on. 

[dougal 246]

20 hours ago, bughtmaster said:

Dougal I suggest you should go back to your stone ie if you can remember where it is.... pointer Negativity Palace somewhere in Dingwall.

You need to have a long hard look at yourself. It’s got nothing to do with negativity I am a realist not a fantasist.
Since the Scottish Cup win the club has been in continual decay why you can’t see that only you can answer I guess.
All credit to Robbo, Billy and Barry they have steadied a very unsteady ship by putting out a team that’s been put together on a shoe string but still able to compete at a half decent level. 
 

Dougal
 

[Kingsmills 6,526]

28 minutes ago, dougal said:

You need to have a long hard look at yourself. It’s got nothing to do with negativity I am a realist not a fantasist.
Since the Scottish Cup win the club has been in continual decay why you can’t see that only you can answer I guess.
All credit to Robbo, Billy and Barry they have steadied a very unsteady ship by putting out a team that’s been put together on a shoe string but still able to compete at a half decent level. 
 

Dougal
 

Although, we are far from the only club struggling to maintain full time football on a shoe string budget out with the Premiership.

I have been as critical of the boardroom as most but they do deserve some credit for getting us through the crisis of Covid (hopefully) and still being able to provide the manager and coaches with sufficient resources, albeit very limited, to be able to field a competitive team in a highly competitive division.

[dougal 246]

1 hour ago, Kingsmills said:

Although, we are far from the only club struggling to maintain full time football on a shoe string budget out with the Premiership.

I have been as critical of the boardroom as most but they do deserve some credit for getting us through the crisis of Covid (hopefully) and still being able to provide the manager and coaches with sufficient resources, albeit very limited, to be able to field a competitive team in a highly competitive division.

Every senior club in Scotland so far has come through COVID I fail to see why the ICT board should be singled out and applauded. 
 

Dougal