Hearts have today announced that their allocation for Sunday’s Edinburgh derby at Easter Road has now been completely sold out.
Having a large and noisy away crowd is always good for the atmosphere at any football match, but for derby matches it really should be a given.
However since satellite TV became much more prominent in the Scottish game at the start of the ’90s, the Edinburgh derby is one fixture that has probably taken more of a hit than most when it comes to attendances.
Instead of the Saturday at 3pm or Tuesday/Wednesday at 7.30pm kick off times that the fans knew and were comfortable with, all of a sudden we had these matches being re-scheduled for Sundays, Thursdays and even Mondays if my memory serves me correctly (could be wrong though?).
I remember being at the first New Year derby to be televised live on what was then the BSB satellite channel, which was also at Easter Road. It was the first time I’d never seen the old Dunbar End terracing not absolutely packed with Hearts fans, and although the match that night was a very memorable one from Hearts’ point of view (they won 4-1, with a couple of crackers among them, including Gary Mackay into his own net!), the atmosphere was somewhat flat due to the smaller attendance, and the whole occasion was much poorer for it.
In the years since then the kick off times have continued to vary- we very rarely get a Saturday afternoon Edinburgh derby, and even more annoyingly we never seem to get one on New Year’s Day either, which is a disgrace is my opinion.
This, coupled with the fact that both Hearts and Hibs have managed to completely fleec their fans at times over the years when it comes to ticket prices, has dictated that most of the derbies have been sold out, but not all of them. This to me is unacceptable, as a match like this should ALWAYS be sold out, and if it isn’t then those marketing the game really need to take a long, hard look at themselves.
But it’s excellent news that this Sunday’s match will see a full contingent of Jambos taking their seats in the away end. I’m not sure how Hibs’ sales are doing (probably pretty well), but hopefully they’ll do likewise and it’ll be a proper Edinburgh derby experience. Bring it on!
Share this article
Related Articles
I must admit I love watching the Edinburgh derby, obviously not as much as the old firm, but next to that I feel it is the most exciting match(es) of the season…….do you not feel you could sell out a 30,000 at Hearts at least 4 times a year( more if you were in Europe) after the UEFA a few years back – I think I am right in saying you got around 40,000 3 times in two years ?……and Rangers, Hibs, C*****c would be sell outs and maybe other matches as you sell out your ground every game as it is – do you not ? What do you lads think ?
sorry I meant 6 times a year at least ( Hibs twice, Rangers and C*****c twice ) plus the odd cup game etc. …….. Am i right in saying you would be the 3rd biggest support in Scotland – maybe argued by Hi-bees – but Aberdeen couldn’t even fill their ground in the glory days……what are your thoughts about this and are you getting a new 25,000 extended stadia ?
We are (apparently) in the top 20 supported clubs in Britain (number 12 or something like that). Don’t know what they base it on… but you’re right… Tynecastle is a near sell out most games, and has been for a few years now. The new stand (if it is built) will bring the capacity up to around 23,000… as to whether it’ll happen or not is anyone’s guess. The credit crunch combined with the muppets on Edinburgh City Council may well prevent it happening – which would be a shame, as the club have invested about £8M in the project already (between buying land and paying architects etc).
costa, Hearts do have the potential to attract crowds like that fairly regularly – the interest generated on the back of Burley’s 3 months show that i.e. sell-outs for the following two seasons + 32K+ in Europe – we also got 58K for a friendly against Barcelona, and although that would have included a large percentage of neutrals, it does show that the potential is there to attract more customers. We need to be doing better than we are just now though – like most teams you need success to gain the “glory-hunting” element, otherwise the interest starts to wane, just as it has this season at Tynecastle where the crowds are starting to dwindle back to the 13-14K that we used to get under Levein.
True, and cheers lads, I was thinking about what would happen if some of these big investors run out of clubs to buy in England then get the bright idea of buying the old firm…..what would happen ?
With the UEFA changing the competition to 6 games in the groups next season the fight for a place there would be even greater but would you feel this good or bad for the game in Scotland ?
Anything that benefits the Old Firm is bad for the Scottish game as a whole in my experience…
I did read an article that Rangers could be the next team in line to be looked at by foreign investors. Of course they mentioned Watford too and I woudl have throught the prize of the EPL would be higher than the SPL. Hearts need a sugar daddy to write off all their debts a la Fergus McCann without one, in my mind, the future is bleak.
Itis Wolves mate, I have a report/article on the Rangers site on the investors, but I cannot see this happening TBH…..but the Championship in England takes in more revenue now than many counties and is now OFFICIALLY 4th after the EPL, Spain and Russia in actual revenue turnover, wages , crowds etc…with Italy coming 5th !!!!! so that shows you what the SPL are up agai nst when the English ( old 2nd Div) is now bigger than the Bundesliga, French etc,etc.it is crazy and surely some sort of price limit on players fees and wages must be put in order or I dread to think what could happen and with the credit crunch also, things are bleak money wise for us Scots…….but if you have a look on the Rangers site I wrote a piece yesterday on these invesors from Eastern Europe and ask the question on the future ?
Who knows. Both Old Firm clubs have almost limitless potential if they can keep the behaviour of their fans under control with the new UEFA guidelines now in place. Massive following and the potential to be as big as almost anyone I would say, but I’d agree with SJ that from a selfish point of view, and as a fan of the Scottish game in general, anything that makes the gap unassailably wide would not be healthy….
Yes the Championship (ie the old English 2nd division) has huge money too. Remember Craig Levein at Leicester saying that he couldn’t attract guys from other Championship teams, but he could easily attract Old Firm players (Rab Douglas, Stephen Hughes) because they got a big wage increase by going to Leicester. The buyout at Livingston shows its not just huge clubs that seem to be of interest to foreign groups. Can’t quite understand it, myself.
It’s funny though, because the Championship’s standard is awful – worse than the SPL in my view. There’s a lot of overpaid mediocrity in that league which people tend to overlook due to SKY’s glossy presentation.
SH, as you say there is money in the top two divisions in England, and there is also money in the SPL… both of these due to their respective television deals. Likewise the UEFA cup revamp and the Champions League cash cow. There’s a unique opportunity in Scotland in particular for a foreign invester to challenge the (very ordinary) OF for CL places, and also gain through UEFA cup and Setanta money. So in that respect, there is a definite reason to invest. The club challenging *should* be Hearts, but given that we’ve fallen so far over the past couple of years, and not investing significantly in the playing squad, the way is open once more for someone else to come in. Livingston would be a very attractive proposition if run properly.