Hello again folks.
Thank you once again to Mr Stuart Bathgate of the Scotsman Newspaper for printing sections of the open letter in Tuesday’s edition of the paper.
Below I have posted the entire text of the letter that I sent to the 10 clubs and 4 journalists.
Cheers
youngy
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To: Mr S Milne, Mr E Thompson, Mr C Christie, Mr R MacDonald, Mr V Romanov, Mr R Petrie, Mr G Fraser, Mr M Johnston, Mr J Boyle, Mr S Gilmour.
Cc: Mr M Donaldson, Mr S Bathgate, Mr T Cowan, Mr B Leckie.
Dear Sirs,
I am writing this letter to you in reference to the 5% surcharge proposed by Glasgow Celtic FC and Glasgow Rangers FC in an attempt to prove to you that not only can the Old Firm clubs be stood up to, but in fact your supporters want you to stand up to them.
I believe that all 10 non Old Firm clubs received letters during the close season stating that both Rangers and Celtic intend to start charging a 5% handling fee to distribute tickets to their own fans for matches that they play away from home. Not only that, but they now seem intent on using whatever tactics they can to bully you into accepting these proposals. I know that I am not telling you anything new when I state that this is an absolute outrage!
Dundee United received a letter from Celtic stating that if they did not accept this 5% charge, that there would be “no Celtic fans at Tannadice”. That was the very moment that the Dundee United board of directors should have called a meeting with the rest of the league. That was when all 10 non Old Firm sides should have stood as one and said “Don’t send any fans then!” That was when you all had the opportunity to either sell those tickets to your own fans (even if you had to discount them a little) or leave those areas of your grounds empty.
In leaving your grounds empty, you could have achieved three things.
1. You would undoubtedly have saved money in policing/stewarding costs for the game.
2. Perhaps more importantly, you could have highlighted to TV audiences all over Britain, just how petty and ridiculous these two clubs can be. If I’m not mistaken, ALL away games of Rangers and Celtic are televised. Yes? Then let the TV company show no fans, let the rest of the country see empty seats where they would normally see seas of red, white and blue or green, white and gold.
3. And perhaps more importantly still. You would have had these two clubs’ massive supports complaining bitterly about being locked out of away matches. They would complain to you, they would complain to the SPL and the SFA but most importantly they would complain to their own clubs. And you could sit back and be the ones to laugh for once. You, if you all stand together (as these two clubs seem capable of doing when it suits) and you could say “Tell your clubs to drop these ridiculous charges and you all get back in!”
Not so long ago, when all the non Old Firm clubs in the league stood together and stated that if Rangers and Celtic did not back down over plans to gain huge percentages of TV deal money for themselves and leave scraps for the rest, that they would all resign from the league and start again without these two clubs. It worked than and it can work now!
When you take a step back and look at our league from a distance. It is actually plain and simple to see that Rangers and Celtic need the other clubs MORE than those other clubs need them!
If you all resign and start your own league, where does that leave them? Nowhere! They are not allowed to go and play in England. They cannot gain entry into European competitions if they don’t gain entry via a domestic competition. So what do they do?
Do they attempt to become some form of foot-balling Harlem Globetrotters? I doubt it.
I am in no way stupid, however. I realise that you quite obviously need the money that these games bring to you. Obviously in expelling Rangers and Celtic from the league, you would be changing the face of Scottish Football forever. I know that you would instantly have to cut wages, trim your squads and probably have to let admin staff go too.
But again, I believe that the game in Scotland would recover. Just look at the towns and cities that your own clubs play in. How many children and teenagers do you see walking around wearing Old Firm tops and tracksuits? If it wasn’t for the “big two”, I believe that at least 75% of these younger generations would naturally gravitate to supporting their local sides. Why? They quite obviously have an interest in football, they presumably have a wish to take the “easy” way and follow a successful side.
Why not yours? If you no longer have these two enormous leeches bleeding you dry and keeping you down in any way they can. What’s to stop your club being the successful one?
I am a Hearts fan. Forget the admin side of things for a minute and take a look at what happened to my club in 2006. At that time, we had a side that (despite some ups and downs) split Rangers and Celtic in the league for the first time in many a year and won the Scottish cup in the same season. What happened to the crowds? They swelled! So much so, that our owner was able to tell Rangers and Celtic that they would no longer get a full stand at Tynecastle because OUR fans had a right to those seats.
Gain success and the crowds would come back to all of your clubs. The older generations may be lost but the younger ones would have a chance to make a better choice. Most of them probably have never been to Ibrox or Parkhead. Many of them probably never will. So, if they have a successful club on their doorstep, I’m sure they gladly go along there rather than hope that one day they might be able to make the journey to Glasgow.
On the morning that I read of Celtic’s threats to Dundee united and the subsequent acceptance by United to the 5% charge. I took the decision to start an online petition. I opened accounts on only 1 internet message board for each club and posted a link to the petition along with a small description of my reasons for starting it. I also asked Mark Donaldson, a sports journalist on Talk107, if he could mention the web address of the forum.
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/stop-the-old-firm-bully-tactics.html
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/stop-the-old-firm-bully-tactics/signatures.html
By midnight on August 3rd the petition had been signed by 1380 people. It was still rising this morning when I checked it and mention of it had also appeared in Tam Cowan’s football column in Saturdays Daily Record.
The most important people to your clubs are the fans! I urge you to log on to this petition and read the comments from fans of ALL of your clubs. There have even been signatures from fans of clubs outside of the SPL.
I believe that Aberdeen have now also backed down over this charge citing “safety issues” as the reason for capitulating.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with safety! Do what Falkirk has done if you must and sell tickets directly to Old Firm fans. You will all have databases already to keep your own fans details. What is wrong with adding some more names and addresses to that database to allow you to know who bought tickets and which seat they were sitting in? Post the tickets out to them so that false addresses can’t be given. If you wish, charge THEM a 5% fee on top of their ticket. Perhaps this is another way that you can get them to complain to their clubs. It’s easy and it could work.
The bullying of Scottish Football by just two clubs needs stopped now! Unfortunately the fans can’t do much on this occasion.
YOU can.
Listen to your supporters; they WILL back you on this. Stand up against these bullies. Do you really think that they will be happy to have no fans at away grounds? Do you really think that they will be happy to play every away game at grounds that are 100% against them? Do you think that their players will be happy to never have vocal backing at away grounds?
NO!
That is why you have the ability to stand up against this ridiculous charge! Because you have the ability to hurt them more than they can hurt you!
It’s just like bullies in a playground. If we stand together they will NOT be able to impose their will, if we submit, they will pick off the weak and rule as tyrants. Let’s show them that we will stand for bullying NO more!
Yours sincerely
Alan Young
