St Mirren have asked their own fans to pay £30 after cutting Celtic and Rangers ’ allocations in Paisley this season – leaving Glasgow supporters asking why.
The Buddies announced earlier this summer that instead of getting the two stands behind the goals at the SMISA stadium, both clubs would have just one. To help make up the shortfall of this, a voluntary three-stand retention levy at £30 has been set up, allowing home supporters to help out their club.
This has left Celtic and Rangers fans irked as to why they can't pay similar cash to take in the match themselves. A statement on St Mirren's website reads: "As a result of the decision to retain all three stands for home fans this season we are launching our incentive for a one-off voluntary contribution of £30 to supplement the loss of income. The survey intimated that fans were willing to support this initiative so we invite you to contribute to this scheme."
There are clear reasons why this decision has been taken. One is to stop moving families out of their allocated seats whenever the league's big two rock up. A scheme called 'Help a Buddie' has also been launched, where fans can pay for tickets that Saints distribute to local charities and community groups in the local area. This runs throughout this season.
The fan-owned club also saw SMISA (the supporters trust) pay for 30 season tickets and dish them out for free to groups who couldn't afford otherwise. Those initiatives have been a hit with the target market so far and growing the fanbase long-term has also been highlighted. St Mirren host Celtic in the Premiership on September 17th and March 4th with Rangers on November 12th.
One Celtic fan commented 'This is getting ridiculous, absolute shameful asking their fans to contribute! The allocation cut won’t last long there.' Another stated 'Cost of living crisis you’ve already paid for your ticket and your clubs asking u for an extra £30 when there’s another set of fans that will willing take the tickets that your not selling.'
Rangers fans are unhappy too, one saying on social media 'but but but.....football is nothing without fans' and one more adding 'That's quite sad tbh.'
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