Realise this is a problem everywhere so i want to know what the future will be like for my team Stranraer with so many people my age supporting one of the Old Firm.
Out of 11 people I walked to school with this morning 9 are season ticket holders for OF this is the same in all classes throughout the school!
Where will all our fans come from in the future, not just for Stranraer but for all teams in this division?

Fair play to you - what you say is very true. Parents indoctrinate their children into their favourite teams so it's not a problem which is likely to change in the near future.

Still, look on the bright side. I was born and live in Glasgow and I'm a Stranraer supporter (albeit one who only goes to a couple of games a season).

Our fans will come from the same place as they always do, some members of the local community will retain a sense of community loyalty and help the clubs to bounce along at the same not very competitive rate. Meanwhile the OF will continue to win and people will continue to be attracted to winners. Nothing changes in football anymore.

The new fans come from dabbling with the terraces. One you start going to games it is really good. The passion from fans for good and bad is brilliant and is a reason i love football. I hope to convert some of the Old-Firm fans in my college class by getting them to Starks when we play Rangers. my chances are...slim.

The good thing is, the OF are at saturation point with regards fans getting to games, so as more people go back to football, the greater the chance they'll go to local games as opposed to sitting at home listening to the radio/watching Setanta/watching Ceefax.

Going back to Brechin for the last two or three years has been great, especially since I'd moved away 10 years prior to that. It was great seeing some old faces and having a pre-match pint before standing for a natter and a bit of banter. Beats sitting on your hands in an all seated stadium.

I'm sure som will realise this in the future!
When teams like Celtic and Rangers are selling season tickets for so little it is impossible for the "smaller" teams to compete, with people saying £3 is unreasonable to watch next season!
I personally love the closeness and family feel you get where you can connect with the players and every fan knows every other fan but others won't be lucky enough toexperience this as they are too narrow minded to see anything beyond success and sectarianism!

I have successfully converted 5 Celtic, 1 Rangers, 1 Man Utd and 1 Arsenal fan to the cause in my lifetime. Plus 1 guy who wasn't even interseted in football Simply by taking them to see the Rovers in action

What makes you different from a Rangers supporter who lives in Stranraer? Or does it only work one way?

Celtic's kids prices:
Age 12 and under: £50 season ticket (£2.63 per match)
Age 13-16: £100 season ticket (£5.20 per match)
Age 17-18: £150 season ticket (£8.00 per match)

Adults range from £420-£500 I think. Not exactly 'so little' for adults, but for kids, it's a great deal. The problem is though that there's a waiting list for full ST's that the kids can't jump ahead of, so many of them'll miss out on these deals. Adults probably have to accompany them as well (not sure)

You can, or did, get into Arbroath with a kid for an additional £1. That's pretty good value. You can also move about the ground and if the kid's a real young un, they don't get as fed up as sitting on their backside for 90 minutes. This is something that should/could be marketed somehow - fitba is much more fun at the smaller clubs for kids when they go week in week out. I took my daughter to a Celtic game recently (O'Donnell's tribute match) and despite being overawed by the crowd and the noise, she was fretting and a tad pissed off after about 20 minutes, simply because we couldn't move around the ground like we do when I slum it at Arbroath or take her to the Majestic Glebe.

Surely the most patronising post I've ever read from a messageboard poster in all my days......

How so?

From someone who doesn't know you, you seem to portray yourself as the guy who went onto bigger and better things only to come back home once you've made your money as some sort of returning hero and enjoying the fact the local yokels are still living their simplistic lives in their little hick town and totally unaware of how the Vity slickers live in the real world.

I knew there must have been another like me... 7 Years now ahhh

To be fair, that's not the way I read it.

I think that's very unfair.

It does only work one way, he's not a glory-hunter.

Fair point.

But at least I can't be accused of being a gloryhunter - nor supporting a football club merely for political reasons - nor just because my mates / family support them.

My reasons for supporting Stranraer are quite spurious. But you pick your team when you're young and that's who you stick with. My first game was travelling over from Belfast when I was about 13 and watching us beat a much-fancied Falkirk side 2-1 in the Scottish Cup and I've never looked back.

A tad harsh. The guy just appreciates going home to see his local team - surely something to be encouraged however (in)frequent it might be.

Aye, well, maybe that shows you not to jump to conclusions. I've always went to Brechin games, albeit very sporadically until two or three years ago. Hence the fact that I was catching up with old friends more often. I haven't moved back to Brechin (as some kind of returning hero? haha, what a tool) and don't get the chance to see all my old mates as often as I'd like, so the three or four hours on a Saturday are more often than not highly enjoyable times, hence mentioning them.

The place I now live in is marginally bigger than Brechin and doesn't even have an SFA affiliated club, so it's hardly a case of me looking at people in their little hick town. Keeping on this tack, it appears you need to be told that many people in Brechin work in the Oil industry in some capacity and lots have made their way in the world far better than I. They work in Aberdeen in nice shiny Shell offices, or for support companies or out in the North Sea earning very good money. Certainly not something I would associate with local yokels or hick towns.

I do find it interesting however that you'd associate Brechin with hick town and local yokels enough to use those terms. Perhaps you should take a keener interest in what stares back at you in the mirror before posting drivvel about someone else and your misconceptions of their thoughts.

HTH

Evidently you can look after yourself; a fine retort.

Not a glory-hunter, huh? I can't think of anything more glorious than humping Falkirk.

Short of a night with Jessica Biel, neither can I.

So to see Celtic fan who associates himself with Brechin going on about having wee natters with the same old faces and going on about not having to sit on his hands at all seater grounds doesn't appear condescending in the slightest to a neutral observer?

You're right, I don't know anything about where and how most of the population of Brechin are employed, nor do I care. I am posting as someone who doesn't know you and is going on his first impression. I said that in my original reply if you remember.

Now, onto the point about hick towns and local yokels. I've been to Brechin for plenty of away games (remember it's not too long since we got out of the Second division and there's a good chance we'll be back sometime soon) and, whilst it's never been an easy place to go, although our results there have been better than some may expect, Brechin is a tiny place in the grand scheme of things. I think I'm correct in saying that before Ross County were admitted to the SFL, Brechin was the smallest town (population wise) in Britain to have a league club. That, like it or not, would give outsiders more reason to define it as a hick town than many other clubs.

Go away

At least that bold bit's not patronising. Not in the slightest.

FWIW, I changed my team to Celtic from Brechin two or three months ago. Maybe if you actually read my post you'd notice that I said I've been going regularly to Brechin games for the past two or three years, it's hardly associating himself with Brechin is it you dumbass? Still lets not let anything like objectivity get in the way of a misguided car crash of a post.

And how does stating that you get to natter to your mates instead of sitting on your hands at an all seater ground sound condescending? You do realise I was having a dig at what supporting a club like Celtic is now like? Mmm, obviously not, your blinkers were well in place and despite the fact that others have thus far commented that that (condescension) wasn't the way they read it, you still persist on saying that it would be condescending to any neutral.

How would you know what supporting a team like Celtic was like beforehand then?

You're obviously far more aware of the make up of your local are and club, I'll grant you that but your argument falls to pieces on one crucial point. How, a matter of a couple of months after changing your loyalties from Brechin City to Celtic, can you tell folk that there's so many better things about supporting Brechin?

Are you mates with No.8, the Rangers supporting Raith Rovers fan from Paisley?

No. Don't have a clue who you're talking about and don't generally mix with folk from Paisley.

Because I went to a number of Celtic games from March onward when tickets mysteriously came easier to get hold of for some reason.

I didn't change loyalties per se, I just started going to a few Celtic games, something I'm unlikely to do over the coming season. I changed my team on here because I seemed to be posting more and more on the SPL, OF and European forums than I was in the 2nd Division.

And yes I used to go to Celtic games prior to that, for many years, during which time I also made (sometimes very ir)regular trips to Brechin as also stated previously.

There are so many things better about supporting a smaller club. Many Celtic fans go on about 'the Celtic family', what family? I have little or no real affinity with them, nor they with each other or me, and certainly not the club towards the cash-cow fans, what kind of family is that? Compared to Brechin, where as a youngster playing for Stewarty Douglas' U14's, I ruptured knee ligaments and the club took me in for treatment on my knee; despite the fact I was rather crap at football at the time I received regular ultrasound treatment and given advice as to slowly building the strength in my leg back up after it had healed.

A few years later, when I then suffered a double leg break playing Amateurs, Tommy Gilmartin provided physio when my leg was pinned and plated, helping me back to kicking a ball again within half a year. Would any big club do any of this?

I get to stand where I want at Brechin (and Arbroath, where I'm often forced to take my daughter to). I can speak to friends in the pub before a match and during the game. You can't do that at a club that has you in row JJ and your mates in row Z.

You can mix with fans of other clubs, which can be interesting and often quite funny, at Brechin, barring one or two matches a year now. Only at the recent O'Donnell tribute match could you do that as a Celtic (or pretty much any SPL club) fan, unless you're 'behind enemy lines' as one r*ngers fan on here would put it.

And best of all, you get to do all this at under half the price. It should be win-win for the smaller clubs (I'm getting dangerously close to steering this thread back to where it was).

A hell of alot of that I actually agree with, although I'm a Morton fan, and couldn't bring myself to assciate with any other club (except Bournemouth, who I've got a soft spot through relatives).

The Celtic Family thing really pisses me off. Think I'd rather be a member of the Fritzl family. not sure about your knocking of the "behind enemy lines" though, I always loved the Cowshed when we played St. Mirren and there was the fence down the middle.

Bear in mind though, I'm not slating Brechin as a club (or even a town there's plenty of towns like it). I was slating how I saw your attitude towards them. Infact, what you say about Brechin would make me wonder why you would choose to be a Celtic supporter? You've given plenty of justifiable reasons for your affection for Brechin, whilst describing celtic as a club with "cash-cow" fans. In the best possible way if I were you I'd be taking a look at myself there.

I've been to Brechin. 'Hick town' doesn't come close to describing it.

Going back to the original post i'm just wondering how much work Stranraer do in their community to try and get younger fans to go to Stair Park.

It's taken Ayr United years to actually get involved and set up competition to Rangers summer camp schemes.Even then it's more our Academy than the club running them but at least it kinda shows kids there is more than 2 options.

Another thing i've noticed about Stranraer is that it does seem to be a Rangers town.This isn't me scoring cheap points incidentally but i remember a few years ago Tennants were giving away retro football tops in a raffle.The pubs in Ayr had Ayr United tops up on the wall to win but The Pub(?) in Stranraer had a Rangers top to win.Surely in the absence of a Stranraer top a Scotland top might have been a more sensible option?

I'm not saying Ayr isn't a Hun town by the way as it's infested with the Rat B*stards

Fun town?

I can see where your coming from loyal blue , youd think itd be worse in the South West of the country aswell but it isnt , at my academy theres about 30 people out of 1000 who come regularly and at the other schoool im not to sure but there cant be many , i know about 50 who come regularly and the school theres around 1500 so not to good there.

I have to admit the club must have some sort of special deal for the kids though as theres always alot of them turn up and the 7 primary schools added together must only come up to 2500 and the number of kids we get at our games sometimes is huge.

The thing that pisses me off though is when one of your mates has got nothing to do on the saturday so you ask if hed like to come down to Gayfield to watch Arbroath and hed rather stay in the house and watch gillete soccer saturday to find oput , Rangers , Celtic , Arsenal , Chelsea etc scores on the tv .

And also when Arbroath played Rangers in a friendly last year loads of people who didnt have a clue about football turned up with Rangers flags , scarfs faces painted and ahin which also annoyed me.

TBH i dont know how they could follow a team that way , the thing me and all my mates enjoy is goin out and representing our town , goin to new places over scotland , havin banter with people you aint met and actually knowing the players , all the old firm fans in a way are just a number at the small clubs i like it how abdy kin each other.

Fuk sake ive never ever written that much
BTW i accidently posted this on the other topic if u red it there first

They send tickets (or did) to Hayshead primary a few times. Kids also only cost £1 at Gayfield when accompanied by an adult - that, for me, is fantastic value for money.

edit: you do know you can delete your own posts?

Well I went from Rangers to Queens Park.

And I agree with what people have said about the atmosphere and everything else, its so much better supporting a team in a lower division.

Believe me when I say this Stranraer isn't a Rangers town...it is a Rangers and Celtic Town, albeit more Gers than Tics.
Stranraer's community side is now looking pretty good. They have a similar setup to Ayr. They have the reserve team as well as two youth teams. They put on skills schools during the holidays. The coach of the under fifteen team is very qualified in football terms and is the highest qualified coach in Dumfries and Galloway, I believe.
This is addressing the problems that players have had over the years in Stranraer as all boys had to go to Ayr to find a good boys club, until recently. Kevin Kyle and Allan Jenkins are two recent examples. Very good players but they had to travel to Ayr in the evenings after school to get a team. Very difficult for children and parents and it requires dedication that not everyone has, so a lot of the potential talent is lost.

They are forever trying to reach out to the community, but unfortunately the community doesn't respond. On top of the OF supporters disappearing to Glasgow ever week, there seems to be a major problem with local players. In my experience Stranraer would get bigger crowds if they put 11 locals out on the park. The amount of times I've heard "I'm no watching that because there's nobody from Stranraer in the team" amazes me. Yes it would be good to think that you would have 11 passionate supporters of your club on the park, but in this day and age, it ain't gonna happen. I believe that the reserves who are all made up of locals get decent crowds.
The other most common excuse for folks not going to Stair Park is "I'm no paying to watch that p!sh" So they all disappear to Glasgow. I've even heard a so called diehard Stranraer fan saying that he hopes Stranraer get relegated this year, because they are "P!sh" Really with that kind of attitude, what hope have you got?

I have a lot of respect for the diehards who go to Stranraer(and any other 'small' team) games every week. It can't be easy with so much peer pressure to turn to the dark side.

The other thing I have noticed is the local rags. There is definitely far more coverage of the south of Scotland League and Bizarrely enough the dominos and golf. Surely the local hacks could be doing their bit too.

I know that everywhere else suffers from the same problem, but in Stranraer it is very condensed making it more noticable, because of the size of the town.

Not so long ago they had a few thousand for a game with Hearts. Until you get the big game punters going on a regular basis the problem will always be the same. Easy to work out the problems, finding the answers will be the hard part.

Stranraer has produced a lot of very good players over the last few years Colin Calderwood, Darren Fletcher, Kyle and Jenkins to name some. Perhaps they could be approached to 'big up' the town.

I would be willing to bet that most of these problems exist in most of the towns represented on this board. Having lived in Clackmannanshire I know Alloa does and certainly Ayr does.

I know a few folk who used to go to Ayr but got bored of the dire football and now support one of the OF.

Totally right! Simple fact is if the OF fans who leave Arbroath and surrounding areas, took us on as their "Second team" and supported us when the OF were not playing, we and other "Wee" clubs would be in a better financial state.

Is it too much to ask? Come on OF fans give us "Lesser" teams a bit of support!

The best way to get more fans is to encourage them, like most of you have done on here.

Invite them down to Gayfield, Links Park etc. if you're of that age combine it with a Drinking Session maybe. if the Clubs hold say Birthday parties for Kids, you could hold one there and invite a few of their friends.

Unfortunately we live in the age of the Lazy Bugger and people will choose to watch the OF or the EPL if they don't have the motivation to do anything else.

All the above comments are true , the thing is if all the gloryhunters came down and watched there local team scottish football would be in a much better state with more competition , i rekon if all the gloryhunters from Arbroath came down to watch us wed have about 1500 most weeks and im sure its the same for every club

If everyone from Ayr area who goes to see the OF went to see Ayr instead, we'd be getting 2500-3000 a week.

Been saying that for years to any OF fan who would listen, Lichtie boy. And of course the irony of improved competition would be better leagues and ultimately therefore, an improved OF because they wouldn't be in opposition to the 'diddy teams' they constantly refer to. Sadly, the OF solution to improving the level of competition is to leave and join another league. The smart ones now realise that is a pipedream (or extremely long term at best) but they still can't shake the habit of supporting their chosen branch of gloryhunting bigotry.

I wonder if my son will be called a glory hunter, when I make him shun his home town team for the Starks Park Rovers ?

Taking a step down isn't glory hunting.

Remember we'll be in the new stadium by then and challenging for stuff so we will .


Going back to the topic i know loads of Ayr fans who just decided the club is a f**kin mess and they couldn't be bothered going to watch it anymore.They don't support the Old Firm they just don't go to football anymore.

Yeah, I know a few folk like that, because of so many years of treating the fans with comtempt.

Thing is, when Barr had us as his little plaything it wouldn't have mattered if the games were behind closed doors, he wasn't interested in the community or the clubs relation with it, only in his own personal glory and place on the league committee. That didn't hurt us then because he was bankrolling it all. Well, until he'd had enough and left us with the wage bill......

Anyway, that's been part of the problem for the current regime. They weren't just left with a huge financial mess, but a massive apathy from the community. However, with the help of the supporters trust and Lachlan being willing to try new things, this seems to be slowly but surely being addressed.

Now we have the Academy, the kids soccer schools, Davie White in the community and hopefully soon we'll introduce a free tickets for kids scheme. These are the things you have to do to battle the glory hunters in the next generation.

No idea of the numbers but would think a considerable number of Old Firm Fans leave the Wee County every week to watch the Old Firm. It is the sad reality of Scotland that these people don't feel a link to the club in their own communities but are attracted by going to watch Celtic or Rangers. Would imagine that this affects every team in Scotland even those in the SPL as busses leave Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee etc.

Can never see the trend turning either especially when lower league clubs are charging ridiculous prices for the level of football, £13.00 and £14.00 for Second Division Football which makes it extremely hard to increase and even keep the current fan base.

This is nothing new. From the 80's until now, loads of people have left small towns etc to go to watch the 'big' clubs. Amongst these from my school (and into adulthood) were also many people heading off to Tannadice and Pittodrie every fortnight.

Surely the more people that see the light and watch a normal team the better.
One of the guys who joined up with us last season used to be a Celtic supporter until he moved to Kirkcaldy.
Now he's hooked...

He'll be taken into care which is normally not a good thing!