Our support is pitiful!

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Our support is pitiful!

Postby Begs.hafc » Wed Feb 12, 2020 9:09 am

As it says on the tin! It's becoming embarrassing. I know the weather etc, put a few of last night but ffs!
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby TerracingTomas » Wed Feb 12, 2020 10:46 am

Nothing embarrassing or pitiful about our support at all other than the numbers but the individuals themselves are every bit as committed as are the fans of Brechin or celtic. The embarrassment is our club. Grandiose talk by Maitland of involving the fans more e.g attending board meetings and increasing the number has, not surprisingly, come to nought. A community trust that should be about building links with the hamilton community and encouraging people to come along to games has been hijacked and turned into the CEO’s addiction charity. Section A which at least tried to build atmospshere and noise at games has been picked apart as the ‘club’ bans daft laddies for silly comments and imagined slights while old firm fans get more of a welcome. The fans have suffered nearly 5 years of mind blowingly dull football and the new dawn that was the Brian Rice era has proved to be a false one. Its no wonder fans stay away. They see a youth academy first, an addiction charity second and a senior football team third. On a dreadful night last night did the club show pictures of some of our fans braving the conditions on Twitter? no the picture was mcgowan and and his cronies inside in a warm hospitality suite with the 50/50 draw ticket which they donated to the youth academy and Blameless. Meanwhile out on the pitch a bunch of largely young kids and over the hill crocked journeymen tried their best. Already its talk of the seaside leagues and rebuilding and how nice it will be to visit arbroath etc and that will bring the fans back. Bollocks.
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Gav » Wed Feb 12, 2020 11:32 am

Great post TT
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Begs.hafc » Wed Feb 12, 2020 12:23 pm

800 at home to the 3rd best team in the league isn't embarrassing? I'm sorry but I've got to disagree. While I can't disagree with most of what you say TT, ffs get out and support OUR team!
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Scotty Tunbridge » Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:29 pm

Great post, Shame you will now be invited in for a ‘chat’ TT
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Stevie Clarke » Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:37 pm

Begs.hafc wrote:800 at home to the 3rd best team in the league isn't embarrassing? I'm sorry but I've got to disagree. While I can't disagree with most of what you say TT, ffs get out and support OUR team!


It wasn't anywhere close to 800. Looked about 400 to me. Less than 80 folk in the first three sections nearest the away fans. The game should have been called off in the morning. Asking folk to travel in those conditions, especially from Aberdeen, is madness. Scottish football never learns. If we have to play midweek in February, why not make it a derby or Killie or St Mirren?
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby porcupine » Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:55 pm

Yes, SC, you agree with me. It's madness at best playing football in February in Scotland and especially a mid-week game. That's why I posted 'Game on or not?' on another thread. Never expected travelling fans from Aberdeen to have to travel given the forecasts.

And to the support? In the five decades of supporting Accies, there's NEVER been, or likely to be, any increase in the hard-core 1200. If some shining knight in armour came along with lottery millions to spend, then given a season or two with top class players, we would probably increase support with winning teams and attractive football.

Realistically, Accies do not have internal or external investors to change anything. We have, in those five decades, been no more than a good/fair Championship team in the second tier. Any Premiership football has, in the main, been suffered rather than enjoyed, on a week by week basis.

I'd rather see my season ticket money giving me competitive games in which we have as much chance of winning, as loosing. The last five years have been overall dire to watch, other than AN's six months before he left for Norwich.

The Premiership don't like us, or want us. I'm not the only one to say that dropping a division in May is probably the best thing that could happen for the fans enjoyment of their gate money paid.
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby aldoaccie » Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:59 pm

Peaks and troughs. We’re currently in a rather lengthy trough of course, but we’ll bounce back. We always do.

Remember that 20 years ago we were relegated to the 3rd division after the points deduction, bounced back after a few years and then made it all the way to the spfl. Where we still are.

All that i’m saying is that no matter how bad things seem just now, they will get better :D
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Bluesy » Wed Feb 12, 2020 3:36 pm

Times have been an awful lot worse! Doesn't make it enjoyable now though.

I remember even in the mid / late 80s getting 5000 for a midweek Scottish Cup tie v Forfar (I haven't checked this, I'm relying on memory).

Hamilton is getting bigger and the support is getting smaller despite unprecedented top tier presence.

Perhaps we do need a supporters only meeting (anyone invited) where we can try to come up with anything constructive to help grow the support and feed it back through the SLO.

I appreciate that many will say that it's been done or they won't listen but it is surely worth a try.

For example if we get next season's season tickets at a cheaper rate depending on how many buy them (e.g. over 750 = £50 off and over 1000 = £100 off etc) If the board went for that it's then up to us to spread the word and try to help grow the core support as much as possible. Make it possible to secure a season ticket early (at a discounted rate) with a non-refundable deposit (what's to lose and it makes it affordable with summer holidays coming up etc).

To occasionally pay for the HAFSWO buses (e.g. at Cup games away when Accies benefit from the gate money)

Another example is to encourage section A again (and perhaps undertake to self police so that it doesn't get out of control). I can understand why clubs are a wee bit concerned about encouraging this sort of thing when you see the nightmare Celtic get from the Green Brigade despite bending over backwards for them. St Mirren and Motherwell's variation are (very grudgingly) good examples of how it should work.
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Stevie Clarke » Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:42 pm

Can't remember any midweek cup tie against Forfar, or a gate of 5000 in the mid 80s. I remember we played Aberdeen during the second league winning season and the crowd was over 7000. There was also the famous Hearts game in 85/86, when we were both top of our leagues, and over 10,000 turned up. Before my time, but I think we had around 13,000 for a midweek replay v Montrose in 1972, which we lost of course!
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby smc4761 » Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:53 pm

great post TT agree with everything you say

Accies have never had a huge support. I can remember going in late 70'd early 80's and support usually around 1500.

With appalling football on offer for past 5 years or so that seems to have dropped to nearer 800

Club dont seem to give a flying feck to supporters, who seem to be an irritation as to what the club are trying to achieve. Answers on a post card as to what that actually is

I am now pretty much an armchair fan now and it would take a helluva lot to get me back to games if at all.

Sorry to be so negative, I think it is simply realistic. We are going down in automatic place this year and will struggle to get back up. Look at Falkirk/ Partick with a significant support and they are both struggling
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Tumbleweed.. » Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:55 am

I go pretty much every week and have done for years. This is the first season I can remember deciding not to go to some games because it's just not worth putting in the effort - I live far from Hamiton - to often get very little back from the team, and even less from the club who could not care less about fans individually or collectively. There is so little supporter interaction that no-one in any position at the club could really claim they even give two sh!ts what we thought, could contribute or indeed even if we turned up week after week. I'm not asking for a cuddle at the turnstiles, to be carried shoulder-high to my seat, to have butler service at halftime or even to have a hot stone massage after the game, but to actually be looked at as anything other than a piece of suspiciously pungent brown mess on the collective management's shoes.

The 'supporter experience' at NDP is to sit down, shut up and be grateful for watching SPFL football. If Maitland or whoever thinks otherwise, there really is no hope for the club's long term future. I'm sure each of us could quickly come up with 5 things that really p!ss us off about the club (the team is another matter) and most of them are so easily fixed it is laughable that they are allowed to continue.

Website? For YEARS its been absolute amateur hour which a reasonably sentient chimpanzee could fix in a heartbeat

Ticket purchases for home OR away games? How anyone knows when we are playing and how they can attend is beyond me. We don't know yet if we can buy tickets at Tynecastle in a couple of days? How is that possible? Blame Hearts all you want but its another impediment to fans travelling. Buy 2 tickets and shop staff need to use a calculator? Eh?

Presence around Hamilton? Emmm... absolute zero and therefore interest from townspeople is also zero. And who can really blame them?

Shout about what we are watching on the pitch and certain individuals at the tunnel scan the crowd then stare and scowl as if they're John Rambo when they're far more Joey Essex. You'd think we were screaming for their families to be ritually tortured on the pitch at half time rather than moaning about losing goals 2-year-olds would take a beamer at.

Season ticket holders (as in they're holding them in their hands, clearly they havent bought them) wandering about looking for 'their' seat every week, although this is far more prevalent when the ugly sisters are in town. Plenty of those sets of fans in the home stand for every game against them and the club say they didnt know about it but would look into it. Result - pipe down ya muppets, nothing to see here and so nothing changes and it continues to happen every single time.

See, 5 things and I've not even started.

Even on Tuesday one half of the turnstile exit gates were closed, meaning we had to traipse through plenty of lovely puddles to get out when the other side was far more accessible. Sh!te I know but why does petty garbage like that happen every week and why do the club not do something to help? Possibly because its nice and warm in the directors boxes and they couldn't care less about you or I.

Fountain of Youth Stadium? FOY stadium then surely, but it says FOYS Stadium in big letters above the front door. Where did that extra 's' come from? And how much extra sponsorship did it bring in?

We are a complete joke in terms of trying to grow the club, in terms of what we expect fans to put up with, in terms of trying to make it a pleasant experience to go to games. I know nothing will change because those running the club see us as an irrelevance to be mocked, derided or just plain ignored. Fans forums are great for the 15 minutes they last, but when the same stuff is discussed every time and NEVER CHANGES in any way, shape or form, I'm afraid it's getting easier and easier to spend the time and money I would otherwise contribute to Scottish football on other things.

I always love the team (even when we're rotten) but I wish a big GIRFUY to those in charge.
On the outskirts of nowhere, on the ring road to somewhere, on the verge of indecision, I'll always take the roundabout way.
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby TerracingTomas » Thu Feb 13, 2020 11:32 am

I live far from Hamiton - to often get very little back from the team, and even less from the club who could not care less about fans individually or collectively.


And why is that Tumbleweed? The answer lies in this quote that the CEO gave to the Daily Mail back in January 2018

“ I don't like football I have only ever been to one away game. I love the youth academy and the business of football intrigues me. Were a business that's trying to run a football club like a family.” “Our sponsors are here because of our social conscience. Not because they want Hamilton to be the next Man City”

You are correct to say nothing will change apart from cosmetically here and there like a card reader or a new announcer but there will no significant investment in the first team because its not what the Club is now about. The balance is all wrong from a fans perspective but not from the ‘owners’
Any future sponsors should contact liningourownpockets@mcgoofeystadium.com
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby porcupine » Thu Feb 13, 2020 2:03 pm

Both Tumbleweed and TT hit the nail on the head. I too travel a fair distance to Accies and have started to wonder why. :(

Here's another thing that's neglected. I thought my eyesight was going, until I started to count the number of lights OUT on our floodlight gantries. It seems to increase every month. I'm not even sure the dead bulbs were replaced during the summer. About one third of the lights are out on the far side. Can't imagine the stand side is much better.

Yet another pathetic example of the 'professional' way our club is run by those in charge of the stadium. :oops: :oops: :oops: These bulbs will not be cheap but surely need to be replaced when dead.....or is it a Health & Safety issue for only Hamilton Accies?

Maybe a Bulb Sponsor rather than a Ball Sponsor is an idea?
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Stevie Clarke » Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:42 pm

Excellent post tumbleweed. I'll add the 50/50 draw. I've started jotting down the odd 50/50 winner tweets from other clubs.

Montrose v Peterhead recently, attendance 698, 50/50 prize £400.

Albion Rovers v Stenhousemuir, attendance 210, prize £200.

St Johnstone v Morton (SC), attendance 2,397, prize £513.

Accies v Aberdeen, probably 450-500 Accies fans, prize £80.
Accies v Livingston, attendance 1,487, prize £170.
Accies v Celtic, attendance 4,708, prize £400.
Accies v "Rangers" , attendance 4,050, prize £300.
Accies v Edinburgh City, attendance 1,040 (oh my sides!), prize £70.

Reason for such a poor uptake of tickets is obvious. For years the sellers, usually youth team players, have stood at the trackside fence next to the programme seller. If you didn't know better you would think we didn't have a half time draw. At Albion Rovers, the seller or sellers are right there facing you after you've gone through the turnstiles. Maybe there is an element of distrust at Accies too, as the winners usually come from hospitality. Does anyone know someone who has actually won it? Just looking at that Montrose figure we can see that Accies are throwing away potentially at least £400 every single home game for very little extra effort. Just someone with a bit of common sense to say to the boys, don't stand at the fence, engage with the fans as soon as they enter the ground. But this is a club with a pitiful club shop, embarrassing website, the worst match programme in Scotland year on year, that charges kids from 0-18 £12. Plus all the other stuff previously mentioned. And...and we trust one person to deal with the safety of almost a million pounds! I tend to agree with Craig Telfer from A View from the Terrace : "Ridiculous club".
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby aldoaccie » Thu Feb 13, 2020 4:03 pm

Tumbleweed, bravo. Couldn't have said it better myself.
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby smc4761 » Thu Feb 13, 2020 5:54 pm

Lots of negativity on this thread and indeed around the club and rightly so. Its worse that amateur hour

Does anyone have anything positive to say about the club, Are the pies decent, the coffee is great. Anything


Sean, are the board even aware of the negative comments, more likely they dont give a flying feck
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Beardy » Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:21 pm

SMC4761 - The team are capable of playing well but lack the squad depth and talent to carry passengers on the field, if the midfiled (Alston, Hunt, Collar) aren't fully into it then doesnt matter how much effort Miller, Oggy, Gogic or Martin put in.
The players in the stands are happy to chat with the fans - thats a plus. Steak pies are decent. The playing surface always looks good. You can always get a seat. You can hear the interaction between the players and the bench for example Scotty Martin replying to Bouzy with "well im doing my fucking job" - you wouldnt get that at Ibrox or Parkhead.
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Hammy-hoops » Thu Feb 13, 2020 11:26 pm

How do we get at least some of the support back? Certainly not by escaping the drop & enduring another season with the goal to be tenth, rather the only way I can see is having a decent cup run. This year drawn at home to Edinburgh City we all dreaded another humiliating exit but played well & cantered through 5 nil. Sick at getting drawn at home to the blue ugly sister but BR gave me a wee hope saying he was confident we'd get through.
Played well first half at Paisley & with Sevco playing rubbish just maybe we could get a result. The dream didn't even last to half an hour before kick off. 3 boys & 2 reserves up front, given up before a ball was kicked, of course league is much more important, yuk. Like many others I wasn't there on Wednesday, sickened by Saturday's team selection. Last night made it worse Kilmarnock beating a team there for the taking it could have been us.
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Re: Our support is pitiful!

Postby Stevie Clarke » Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:00 pm

Hammy-hoops wrote:How do we get at least some of the support back? Certainly not by escaping the drop & enduring another season with the goal to be tenth, rather the only way I can see is having a decent cup run. This year drawn at home to Edinburgh City we all dreaded another humiliating exit but played well & cantered through 5 nil. Sick at getting drawn at home to the blue ugly sister but BR gave me a wee hope saying he was confident we'd get through.
Played well first half at Paisley & with Sevco playing rubbish just maybe we could get a result. The dream didn't even last to half an hour before kick off. 3 boys & 2 reserves up front, given up before a ball was kicked, of course league is much more important, yuk. Like many others I wasn't there on Wednesday, sickened by Saturday's team selection. Last night made it worse Kilmarnock beating a team there for the taking it could have been us.


100% this. On the Hearts thread a couple of fans said they're past caring. I'm past caring because of that cup surrender. No way was I going out on a wild night and give them £22.
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