der Berliner 3,234 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 (edited) While this is just another fan board, dignity and respect sets Gersnet apart from others. Let's keep that in mind, shall we not? Even if opinions differ. As someone has mentioned before, didn't they get the full Broomie in years gone by anyway? I certainly was under that impression. Edited March 4, 2016 by der Berliner 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMc 2,463 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I can remember Celtic getting the Broomloan, the West enclosure and some of the Main Stand. For all Calscot makes some valid points I'm not for banning away fans. Going to Parkhead is a right of passage for Rangers supporters. Yeah a trip to Tynecastle or Pittodrie or Easter Road will see you in the minority and faced with hostility but it's nothing like what you face at Parkhead. For many of our away trips there can be as many of us there as the home support. That's never the case at Parkhead. Being in the away end at Parkhead is what tests your mettle as a bluenose. For a start there's the journey to Parkhead, wherever you're travelling from you pass pubs and bus stops and cars and vans filled with 'them'. There seems to be an awful lot of them around. The thing I always remember about Parkhead though was when they scored. That might seem an odd memory but it's always remained with me. See, when you were in the Rangers end you couldn't really hear their support. Sure you could see them, tens of thousands of them, but as we were all singing that's what you could hear. And we sang all game, from when we first arrived until we were half way down London Road on the way home. The only time we stopped was when they scored. In the old Parkhead, when we got the covered end behind the goal, it was the strangest sensation. You'd be watching them attack at the other end of the ground, I couldn't always make out what was happening all that clearly but suddenly three sides of the ground would be jumping up and down and their players would be wheeling off in celebration; but there was no noise. Our singing would stop to be replaced with audible groans and curses and then a couple of seconds later this wall of noise would hit you, it was primeval. It would last about 20 seconds or so before someone would start one of our songs, a defiant one usually, and we'd go back to not hearing them. But see when that wall of noise hit you realised you were far, far from home. Winning is always great but winning there is especially good, there's no point in pretending otherwise. Likewise losing hurts a little more too. That's part of being a Rangers supporter, I wouldn't want to see that taken away from us. That feral, aggressive, threatening experience is part of football in Glasgow, it's part of who we are. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC 150 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I once had one of them describe the wall of noise that his after a dshort delay. he referred to it as the sound of death, of tha apocalypse. It fair cheered me up. My memories of the piggery are very different. I only ever went there in the 70s and we took tens of thousands. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 (edited) That's fair enough and I see your point, but also see it is a very personal and subjective point of view. It doesn't even start to take into account other people without a season ticket who still go to a high number of home games but can't get a ticket to an OF game. There are about 36k season ticket holders (I think) and about 44.5k attend home games on average. That's 8.5k without a season ticket. I have no idea how many are the same person but there will surely be a distribution where there are probably well over 20k unique people who turn up and a significant portion will go to quite a lot of games - just not enough to make a season ticket worthwhile. When Celtic come I calculate there being about 6.5 tickets for not non-season ticket holders, if you remove the opposition fans you have about 13.5k tickets available (with the 1k difference account for by segregation). That's 7k more Rangers fans who can go to the game. I think they are also worth thinking about. There are also minors who are never allowed to go to the game who would be given permission by say their mother, if there were no away fans and little trouble. Again it's a personal view. There is historically more than a 50/50 chance that a celebration of a win against Celtic will be at Ibrox, without away fans that means 7k more Rangers fans are would be more than likely to experience what you have felt but who are now denied. Fair enough. I've read stories that away fans are usually next to the large columns that support the old stand and badly obstruct the view for many. I also know from experience that the front 5 or so rows of the new stands are not covered from the rain. It was just an extra point that Parkhead is not a great stadium to visit in itself. Are you saying that there was no atmosphere at the big European nights when we were playing a big club and had a 50/50 chance of winning - say the home game to Leeds where away fans were banned? I think there might be something missing from the atmosphere - probably something hateful which possibly adds spice, but I can't see how that equates to "severely detracting" from the atmosphere. I also think that those previous atmospheres are gone for good - there was still a bit of good nature, banter and general rivalry mingled in for a while; I think that's completely now gone and it's just pure hate and bitterness left. I'm not sure how many truly miss the atmosphere of the 1980 cup final. Maybe the atmosphere will be badly affected but thinking about it, I'm not so sure - especially if we win. There's also probably not much worse than have them taunt us while our fans leave early in droves when heading for defeat... Sorry I don't know how to interject my comments with yours so I've numbered them instead. I had to read the above a couple of times before your point sank in but I still don't see where you get the 20,000 unique non-season ticket holders. Essentially you are making this an issue between allowing the 7,000 Rangers fans who don't normally go to a game (whether they are unique or not doesn't really matter, they are not Mr Average Home Fan) versus allowing Celtic to populate the Broomloan and I'm sorry but that's an easy decision for me. I think Celtic fans are just as entitled to come and watch their team at Ibrox as we are entitled to support ours at Parkhead. If Ibrox was full every week, even with 14,500 "walk up" fans, never mind a Green Bay packers type generational season ticket lock, I think you might have a better case, but it isn't, so you don't IMO. Also I don't see that you can just ban Celtic fans because there are more of them than other teams and more Rangers fans might be able to see the game, you would have to be consistent and ban all away fans which would be a bit parochial would it not. I'm not sure if minors should be at old firm games (might depend on how minor they are) but if they are then I think it should be to savour the full atmosphere not a sanitised version devoid of visiting supporters. See (1) above. I don't think this is a valid point. I have been to Parkhead on a fair number of occasions and don't recall having a restricted view and I got soaked at Kilmarnock the other night with rain water dripping off the roof of the covered terracing; it can happen anywhere if you have the misfortune to be sitting in the front rows of a stand and the wind is blowing the "wrong" way. I agree that the atmosphere at old firm games has changed but I don't think its comparable with a European night at Ibrox except in a very minor way when Man Utd came calling because few European teams bring a significant number of fans. I don't think you can compare Rangers v Celtic (no fans) with Rangers v Unirea (more journalists than fans) when we should have had a better than 50/50 chance of winning, for example. But if you consider Valencia v Rangers (when the singing just got louder and louder even AFTER we got well beaten 3-0 at the Mestalla, to the extent that their Directors stood in awe after all their fans had left, it still sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it. And then there was 7 minutes into the second half in Lyon, when at 0-3 we all who were privileged to be there, thought we had died and gone to heaven; or when Jean-Claude Darcheville put us in front with 15 minutes to go in the Quarter Final in Lisbon, I'm sure we made a din. Away fans help create atmosphere at football. How can I put it, you feel like you're the infantry supporting the cavalry on the park. Agreed. You win some and you lose some; but win with humility and lose with dignity and you won't go far wrong in my opinion. And yes all the above is my own subjective opinion. Edited March 5, 2016 by BrahimHemdani 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacK1950 2,231 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I remember getting tickets for a game v them at Ibrox from a late relative,who ran the thencinema club for them.I was told be careful as they were for their end of the main stand,pre club deck, and sat there quietly scared to react then we scored and it turned out that there were more of us in that area than them.Was then able to enjoy whole game which we won,and no trouble. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEARGER 1,829 Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 What ticket allocation they got in the past has no relevance. A Rangers director has stated that their allocation will depend on how many season tickets we sell. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 What ticket allocation they got in the past has no relevance. A Rangers director has stated that their allocation will depend on how many season tickets we sell. A police representative will dictate how many tickets Celtic get. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trublusince1982 243 Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 fans who have bought season tickets over the last 4 years for the broamland and do not want to move next season should not be forced to to accommodate that lot. We are devaluing those seats by doing so You cant surely raise prices on last years for that area then say sorry doesn't include o/f games but thanks for the support when we needed it. Just doesn't sit right with me Take care of our own first. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEARGER 1,829 Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 (edited) A police representative will dictate how many tickets Celtic get. Not correct. Police are only concerned with public order/safety, they would be happy if no Celtc fans were there. Edited March 5, 2016 by BEARGER 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 (edited) What ticket allocation they got in the past has no relevance. A Rangers director has stated that their allocation will depend on how many season tickets we sell. The more fool him then because the police will determine who sits where and how many of them there are inside the ground. The match commander has the ultimate authority in these matters. Edited March 5, 2016 by BrahimHemdani 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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