Celtic Football Club Home Game Attendance, Is there a Problem?

I'm sure I'm not the only Celtic fan that has thought about this but the recent stat that Sevco had 46,015 (91% of Ibrox) in a 3rd Division match against Elgin last sunday compared to our lesser crowd of 45,876 (75% of Celtic Park) for a SPL game against Hibs the day previously was extremely disappointing. This has been on my mind since the utterly pathetic attendance for flag day against Aberdeen.

I am concerned and it does suggest that a significant proportion of our fanbase truly do need a form of huns around in order for them to sustain an interest in supporting our club on a regular basis, as they did a mere 2-3 years ago. Also the argument about the weak British economy doesn't really excuse the falling crowds as the attendances during Gordon Strachan's last season in 2008/09 - Which was arguably the worst period of recession after the financial collapse of the global banking system - were still very high. Not to mention, the first 4 SPL home games in the failed Mowbray era attrached 58,000 plus and that was only 3 years ago in August and September 2009.

A mere week ago, close to 55,000 Celtic fans paid twenty odd quid for the Helsingborg game so clearly it seems the big games attract those Celtic fans and certainly will for the Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow games but the SPL isn't important enough for some it seems... Finally I thought I'd share some stats that back up my concerns and I won't include games against Rangers or in Europe to make my point:

2008/09
17 HOME SPL GAMES MINUS HUNS:

ST MIRREN 57,441 AUGUST 2008
FALKIRK 56,031 AUGUST 2008
ABERDEEN 58,565 SEPTEMBER 2008
HAMILTON 55,881 OCTOBER 2008
HIBS 58,337 OCTOBER 2008
MOTHERWELL 56,504 NOVEMBER 2008
KILMARNOCK 55,347 NOVEMBER 2008
INVERNESS CT 55,117 NOVEMBER 2008
HEARTS 56,079 DECEMBER 2008
DUNDEE UNITED 59,558 JANUARY 2009
HIBS 58,930 JANUARY 2009
ST MIRREN 58,286 FEBRUARY 2009
HAMILTON 58,961 APRIL 2009
FALKIRK 57,669 APRIL 2009
ABERDEEN 58,581 APRIL 2009
DUNDEE UNITED 57,407 MAY 2009
HEARTS 59,685 MAY 2009
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE = 57,551 (95% of Celtic Park)

2009/10
17 HOME SPL GAMES MINUS HUNS:

ST JOHNSTONE 58,500 AUGUST 2009
DUNDEE UNITED 58,500 SEPTEMBER 2009
HEARTS 58,024 SEPTEMBER 2009
MOTHERWELL 58,000 OCTOBER 2009
KILMARNOCK 46,000 OCTOBER 2009
ST MIRREN 41,000 NOVEMBER 2009
ABERDEEN 56,010 DECEMBER 2009
HAMILTON 36,827 DECEMBER 2009
FALKIRK 50,000 JANUARY 2010
HIBS 41,000 JANUARY 2010
HEARTS 44,500 FEBRUARY 2010
DUNDEE UNITED 49,000 FEBRUARY 2010
ST JOHNSTONE 30,000 MARCH 2010
KILMARNOCK 41,000 MARCH 2010 (This home game represents start of Lennon era)
MOTHERWELL 27,750 APRIL 2010
HIBS 29,650 APRIL 2010
MOTHERWELL 24,000 MAY 2010
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE = 44,103 (73% of Celtic Park)

2010/11
17 HOME SPL GAMES MINUS HUNS:

ST MIRREN 48,162 AUGUST 2010
HEARTS 49,023 SEPTEMBER 2010
HIBS 48,625 SEPTEMBER 2010
HAMILTON 47,403 OCTOBER 2010
ABERDEEN 45,919 NOVEMBER 2010
DUNDEE UNITED 47,253 NOVEMBER 2010
INVERNESS CT 46,096 NOVEMBER 2010
KILMARNOCK 44,523 DECEMBER 2010
ST JOHNSTONE 41,525 DECEMBER 2010
MOTHERWELL 38,775 DECEMBER 2010
ABERDEEN 47,517 JANUARY 2011
HEARTS 49,460 JANUARY 2011
HAMILTON 51,811 MARCH 2011
HIBS 47,809 APRIL 2011
ST MIRREN 50,318 APRIL 2011
DUNDEE UNITED 48,599 MAY 2011
MOTHERWELL 58,238 MAY 2011
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE = 47,708 (78% of Celtic Park)

2011/12
17 HOME SPL GAMES MINUS HUNS:

DUNDEE UNITED 50,589 AUGUST 2011
ST JOHNSTONE 52,067 AUGUST 2011
MOTHERWELL 48,793 SEPTEMBER 2011
INVERNESS CT 47,382 SEPTEMBER 2011
ABERDEEN 49,037 OCTOBER 2011
HIBS 48,670 OCTOBER 2011
DUNFERMLINE 41,000 NOVEMBER 2011
ST MIRREN 48,406 NOVEMER 2011
HEARTS 49,023 DECEMBER 2011
KILMARNOCK 49,352 DECEMBER 2011
DUNDEE UNITED 50,139 JANUARY 2012
INVERNESS CT 50,014 FEBRUARY 2012
DUNFERMLINE 45,000 FEBRUARY 2012
MOTHERWELL 53,486 FEBRUARY 2012
ST JOHNSTONE 57,848 APRIL 2012
ST JOHNSTONE 50,297 MAY 2012
HEARTS 58,875 MAY 2012
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE = 49,999 (82% of Celtic Park)

2012/13
5 HOME SPL GAMES SO FAR:

ABERDEEN 48,251 AUGUST 2012
HIBS 45,867 SEPTEMBER 2012
DUNDEE 41,073 SEPTEMBER 2012
HEARTS 46,204 OCTOBER 2012
KILLIE 47,971 OCTOBER 2012
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE = 45,873 (75% of Celtic Park)

*Average attendance of the 43 non Rangers SPL home games in Lennon era so far = 46,782

I'm not suggesting that we need an average attendance (with no Rangers, we'll have 19 games of non hun SPL home games this season, not 17 like previous years) reminiscent of Strachan's last season in charge but I think that to prove our point that we don't need Rangers and that we are truly great and loyal football supporters, we should be aiming for an average attendance of 50,000-55,000. Thoughts? [p.s I am a season ticket holder and attend every home game incase it's asked]

 

with champions league football being back this will climb back up, the more successful the period, the more fans turn up. That will continue to be the case.

 

also comparing our attendance to sevco is pointless. they feel they have something to prove, it will drop off by Christmas, guaranteed.

 

The glory hunters come out for the big games and as for newco give it another month and the part timers will leave and never be seen again

 

And once the novelty wears off, the huns will not attend in such huge numbers for Div. 3. Especially as the temperature starts to drop

 

Sevco tickets Cost alot less than our tickets theres no reason to compare our tickets sold to theres

 

That's true. Hibs for us was £29 on Saturday, while Elgin was £16 for them.

Taking into account the % of each stadium is totally meaningless too. Why do you take that into account? We could have an 80,000 stadium, the actual figure is all that matters.

 

Its already started has it not they only got like 20k against falkirk

 

why all the equals signs?

 

finally, a pertinent question! :icon_mrgreen:

 

The only conclusion that can be drawn from all this is that EVERY football fan is a glory supporter to some extent, no matter how hard any of us deny it. We may be the best fans in the world, we may have shown amazing loyalty down the years - but like any other club on Earth our attendances will be higher when winning than losing.

We lost the league 3 years in a row, had 2 relatively unpopular managers in a row, and did nothing in Europe for 5 years.

Add that to the increasing price of going to football and the decreasing amounts of money in the normal man's pocket, and it's easy in my eyes at least to see why our attendances have slumped.

Even though we won the SPL last year and are back in Europe, things take time to recover and change. There will never be a drastic swing of 30000 supporters just like that, but over time as we keep winning the league and competing in Europe the fans will return.

I have no doubts there are still some people who left during the Mowbray era who have not yet returned.

Keep the faith, and stop going on about the zombies. They were intensely boring during the last few months of their old life and are even more so as a newclub.

 

comparing attendance with them is somthing for the media to get their thrills at the end of the day what they also dont print is the fact the tickets are half the price of ours so of course they will turn up guys that havent stepped foot in the ground for years or ever can now go for the same price as 3pints.

 

I think that's very unfair.

For example, my auld man was a season ticket holder for years and years - now he's working two jobs, he's got 4 kids and getting to the games is difficult these days. When he does manage to book a holiday, he will make sure it's a 'big game' he'll be attending, as it'll definitely be worth the holiday atmosphere and quality wise. Glory hunter? I don't think so.

 

The percentage capacity is a red herring and is irrelevant.

Come May, as usual, we will have the higher average attendance.

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F*ck Sevcos attendance let them worry about that, it will die off.

I do think Celtic's could be better, but I would expect the feelgood factor of qualifying for the champions league to help in the coming months

 

It wasn't directed at your old boy.

There's no denying that some fans only turn up for the big games. Not because of finance etc but just because they're the games they want to see.

I definitely don't judge them for it, but there's that element of support at every club.

 

Comparing us to Sevco when their tickets are nearly half the price of ours and they are still in their defiant phase is utterly pointless.

 

Price i think IMO, celtic should put the price down, they know it's hard to pay for tickets every home game and europe cups ect

put the price down and get more people in instead of having empty seats

 

Definitely. £29 to see the likes of St.Mirren & Inverness is way too expensive.

 

Of course it wasn't mate, that was just an easy example.

There are probably some glory hunters but I can't say I've ever come across anyone that I would label that. Most people I know only pick and choose games because of work commitments, money, family commitments or various other things.

I think every Celtic supporter would love to have the privilege of attending every game. Myself, I'm there as long as I can be, no matter the opposition but I wouldn't label everyone that wants to pick and choose games glory hunters. That's all I was getting at.