Why Is Firhill Not For Thrills?

[The Future Is Unwritten]

To me it's all about the weans. To many? Birds, there's another one, to many. Where have all the bootboys gone? See my post on the attendances thread to hear/see more. Welcome any response that makes me feel that Firhill can be anything other than a new Hughenden or whatever it was called and a kiddy eat, drink, no rough and tumble place. SAVE THE JAGS!

[Woodstock Jag]

Excellent post. Will read again.

[Paulo]

This one really should stay at the top of the forum.

[crazy davie]

It's not Firhill for Thrills because the team's shi'ite and the stadium's shi'ite.

 

It's nothing to do with kids going and it's nothing to do with birds going.

[hamiltonjag]

It's not Firhill for Thrills because the team's shi'ite and the stadium's shi'ite.

 

It's nothing to do with kids going and it's nothing to do with birds going.

Relocating the police box, Board, kids zone and Hospitality away from the core support would go a long way towards bringing back the atmosphere (and bringing back the absentee "supporters"). However as this would prove a tad tricky in a two-sided stadium I think we can forever wave bye-bye to "Firhill for Thrills". I vividly recall manys a time when the team were "shi'ite", but the atmosphere used to still be electric. Cheers B.O.D.

[MerryHell]

For me it's not about the kids or any other 'type' of supporter.

I take my boy to the game and i'd be happy with him singing, but whats he going to sing? Who actually signs these days? Who is it up to to create an atmosphere, the BOD? No, it's up to us.

[twinny]

For me it's not about the kids or any other 'type' of supporter.

I take my boy to the game and i'd be happy with him singing, but whats he going to sing? Who actually signs these days? Who is it up to to create an atmosphere, the BOD? No, it's up to us.

 

I was going to make a comment about ex-Dundee FC staff, however that wouldn't be very nice.

[hamiltonjag]

For me it's not about the kids or any other 'type' of supporter.

I take my boy to the game and i'd be happy with him singing, but whats he going to sing? Who actually signs these days? Who is it up to to create an atmosphere, the BOD? No, it's up to us.

Fair point. But not so long ago we had the crazy situation of kids being ejected for singing, dancing and waving flags. I have to say this was remedied quickly and the lads (iirc) given a free day out with some sort of hospitality/tour of the stadiam (top marks to the club and individuals responsible). But until we get it right - and by that I mean a situation conducive to enabling an atmosphere to come back, Firhill will seem like a morgue compared to those halcyon days of the 70s and 80s (And I'm sure it was even better the decades prior to that but I'm too young to comment). Why are my memories of the 70s and 80s so full of atmosphere? Well you could stand at the games for one thing. You didn't feel like your every move was being scrutinised by individuals in a control box. There were no Orwell-esque CCTV cameras. No prawn sandwich munching luvvies tut-tutting at he merest hint of a naughty word. "Mary Fae Maryhill" was an evergreen in the fans songlist. And there was a shed instead of a lego stand. However I can still remember the JHS being full of atmosphere prior to the BOD, Police box and Hospitality moving there. So..... there's always PLENTY of room in the away stand so why not move the the BOD, Police Control and hospitality over there? Mad idea?

[carefulpuntgeorge]

Good shout Hamiltonjag! Remember the ict cup replay live on Sky? The JHS was rocking that night, same with the H*n cis cup game, and some of the OF visits during top flight seasons. The JHS is not the problem - having the BOD and police box there IS.

 

I want Mary fae Maryhill on Saturday please Shed Boys.

[lennythistle]

Good shout Hamiltonjag! Remember the ict cup replay live on Sky? The JHS was rocking that night, same with the H*n cis cup game, and some of the OF visits during top flight seasons. The JHS is not the problem - having the BOD and police box there IS.

 

I want Mary fae Maryhill on Saturday please Shed Boys.

 

I do think the kids zone should be at other end of ground and the shed where kids zone is. Hospitality fine where it is and BOD moved to current area Shed is in. Think initial planning was wrong. Think we all knew that but some wouldn't listen.

 

Defo think Mary Fae Maryhill should be sung on Saturday. Be great to hear it (can't sing it in kids zone so I'll hum along).

 

Atmosphere is sadly lacking at Firhill and everyone to blame for that. Old Board and fans alike.

 

But it got nothing to do with kids being there or burds, or for that matter parents looking out for there kids.

[Jaggernaut]

Shift hospitality back to the excellent main stand, and open the central part of it to punters as well. Get the polis there as well.

[hamiltonjag]

Shift hospitality back to the excellent main stand, and open the central part of it to punters as well. Get the polis there as well.

Good shout..... but I fear we all know that there is no future for the Main Stand. Sad but true. Unless something has changed that I haven't heard about. So the away stand for the BOD, control box and prawn sandwich brigade, thus a stop to penalising Jags fans who want a bit of atmosphere. Kids Zone is a great idea, but where to put it in the JHS is a problem. If we get the JHS bouncing a la the aforementioned ICT and R*ngers games then alas the weans are not going to be able to avoid hearing some bad words that match those they hear in the school playground every day.

[1 John Lambie]

I don't see what's wrong with swapping the current 'shed' area with the current kids area. Involves NO financial cost & should result in improved atmosphere, with being closer to the away fans. Only reason I can think that this won't/can't happen is because it's beside the directors box (& police room), but I really don't see why that should matter.

[jags365]

I don't see what's wrong with swapping the current 'shed' area with the current kids area. Involves NO financial cost & should result in improved atmosphere, with being closer to the away fans. Only reason I can think that this won't/can't happen is because it's beside the directors box (& police room), but I really don't see why that should matter.

I remember Jim saying something along the lines of the Shed was where it was due to the police. Not 100% what they would do now given that the police numbers seemed to have dropped around Firhill.

[northernsoul]

With the layout of the ground and more importantly of the JHS currently I'm afraid I can't see anything which would enhance the atmosphere, without there being some cost involved.

 

I don't like the idea of the Kids Section being swapped to the City End side of the JHS. By that I mean a section from top to bottom of the JHS.

When you look at Cappielow, they have there Kids section in the seats at the bottom of the Cowshed. Something along the lines of this I think could maybe work. I'm not meaning just lump the section at the bottom of the JHS away from the rest of the crowd completely.

Then again if it's baltic or pishing down there would be problems. One of the plus points though, which probably don't outweigh the negatives is that there would be a distance from the more aggressive fans (language wise) and the children, causing this problem to be a less of an issue.

 

In an ideal world though the Main stand would be open, the hospitality would be back where it belongs and the City end side would be the Kids Zone/Family Section. Meaning no hospitality/BoD box seats in the JHS meaning the "Shed end" would be placed right in the middle of the JHS. Problem solved. Unfortunately though, that isn't going to happen ever again.

 

Maybe if there was ground development behind the goals at the City End it would give us more options. Sadly that doesn't look like happening anymore, so said Cowan in one of his final programme notes.

 

In summary I can't see how Firhill will recapture it's atmosphere on a more regular occurrence as it used to, even when crowds are poor or when there was nothing to play for. Unless its against the Old Firm/ a big Cup game/the crowds are up due to us in with a shout of the league.

Edited November 9, 2010 by northernsoul

[Jaggernaut]

Put it this way: Does anybody know of a 2-sided stadium anywhere in the world that has a great atmosphere?

 

Thank you, Messrs Cowan & Hughes. What a legacy!

[kni]

Put it this way: Does anybody know of a 2-sided stadium anywhere in the world that has a great atmosphere?

 

Thank you, Messrs Cowan & Hughes. What a legacy!

 

You re-open the main stand? If so, where would you get the money? Frankly, we don't even need two sides with crowds below 4,000. We could put away fans in the JHS with the necessary segregation, stewarding and policing. The only time that we need additional capacity for the rare visits of the OF. Even if Cowan & Co were the most brilliant marketing men, we still would not get more than 5,000.

 

 

[hamiltonjag]

You re-open the main stand? If so, where would you get the money? Frankly, we don't even need two sides with crowds below 4,000. We could put away fans in the JHS with the necessary segregation, stewarding and policing. The only time that we need additional capacity for the rare visits of the OF. Even if Cowan & Co were the most brilliant marketing men, we still would not get more than 5,000.

.....so you are advocating that we just accept Thistle are, at best, a Div 1 club? No aspirations for SPL status, ever? No chance of regularly hosting games against teams with a large away support (like the OF)?

 

How low have the expectations of many Jags fans sunk? Kni.... your post makes depressing reading as it seems many of us have now been successfully conditioned to expect a 2 sided half-original-capacity Firhill cos we're apparently sh*te and always will be.

 

Personally I can't agree with such sentiment.

[yoda-jag]

Relocating the police box, Board, kids zone and Hospitality away from the core support would go a long way towards bringing back the atmosphere (and bringing back the absentee "supporters"). However as this would prove a tad tricky in a two-sided stadium I think we can forever wave bye-bye to "Firhill for Thrills". I vividly recall manys a time when the team were "shi'ite", but the atmosphere used to still be electric. Cheers B.O.D.

 

Agree completely.

 

 

 

Shift hospitality back to the excellent main stand, and open the central part of it to punters as well. Get the polis there as well.

 

Would be perfect - in an ideal world, and if we had cash to spare - but thanks to (mainly) past inhabitants of the bunker boardroom, there's probably no chance of that ever happening (unless the new(ish) board members (and Propco) bin Phase 2).

 

Of course, for any remote chance of anything like this happening, crowds would need to rise, and rise substantially - and while it's so atmosphereless in the JHS and the fare on the pitch is so awful, it's more likely crowds will continue to fall, than rise.

 

 

 

With the layout of the ground and more importantly of the JHS currently I'm afraid I can't see anything which would enhance the atmosphere, without there being some cost involved.

 

I don't like the idea of the Kids Section being swapped to the City End side of the JHS. By that I mean a section from top to bottom of the JHS.

When you look at Cappielow, they have there Kids section in the seats at the bottom of the Cowshed. Something along the lines of this I think could maybe work. I'm not meaning just lump the section at the bottom of the JHS away from the rest of the crowd completely.

Then again if it's baltic or pishing down there would be problems. One of the plus points though, which probably don't outweigh the negatives is that there would be a distance from the more aggressive fans (language wise) and the children, causing this problem to be a less of an issue.

 

In an ideal world though the Main stand would be open, the hospitality would be back where it belongs and the City end side would be the Kids Zone/Family Section. Meaning no hospitality/BoD box seats in the JHS meaning the "Shed end" would be placed right in the middle of the JHS. Problem solved. Unfortunately though, that isn't going to happen ever again.

 

Maybe if there was ground development behind the goals at the City End it would give us more options. Sadly that doesn't look like happening anymore, so said Cowan in one of his final programme notes.

 

In summary I can't see how Firhill will recapture it's atmosphere on a more regular occurrence as it used to, even when crowds are poor or when there was nothing to play for. Unless its against the Old Firm/ a big Cup game/the crowds are up due to us in with a shout of the league.

 

Excellent post, and a lot of good points contained within it NS, pretty much agree with all you've written typed.

[Meister Jag]

Agree completely.

 

 

 

 

 

Would be perfect - in an ideal world, and if we had cash to spare - but thanks to (mainly) past inhabitants of the bunker boardroom, there's probably no chance of that ever happening (unless the new(ish) board members (and Propco) bin Phase 2).

 

Of course, for any remote chance of anything like this happening, crowds would need to rise, and rise substantially - and while it's so atmosphereless in the JHS and the fare on the pitch is so awful, it's more likely crowds will continue to fall, than rise.

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent post, and a lot of good points contained within it NS, pretty much agree with all you've written typed.

 

I actually read Northernsoul's comments with a tear in my eye as it had me remembering what it used to be like at Firhill in the 70s, 80s and even for part of the 90s. I also agree totally with all that's been said but wonder if what's really happened is that a lot of old fans have left the scene because of age, infirmity and, well, death - with no young team coming in behind them to take their place.

 

Without launching into a 'when I was a lad' type rant, we used to meet up as a group of roughly 20 or so mates (to include a couple of fathers and other mates in their 60s) and knew where to meet each week in the Shed. But as the years have passed some of the old ones have dropped off and even some of the aforementioned mates have couped. All of which takes me full circle to my earlier point that we aren't attracting youngsters...and I know what can be more attractive than a free game of fitba; but come on, maybe what's on offer isn't exactly attractive! Maybe if the product on the pitch was more attractive then attendances would rise. Look at the crowds we were getting just before we gained promotion back into the SPL. All of which seems like decades ago.

 

But as they say in Northern Soul circles: Keep the Faith!

Edited November 9, 2010 by Meister Jag

[the saint]

Personally i don't think the location of kids zone, hospitality or police box has any bearing on the atmosphere. There is just a general apathy about the club from top to botton at the moment and these things are the least of our worries!!

[MerryHell]

I'll be first to admit that I don't know as many Thistle songs as I probably should. Am I alone in the support or is this perhaps a problem in trying to get an atmosphere going?

I could get through Mary fae Maryhill though, and it would have the added bonus of avoiding the 'difficult chat' with my son later in life.

[Wee Gus]

Thistle had no say in where the Polis box went. The polis decided, the end, apart from fact Thistle had to pay for it.

As a result of this the Polis made it very hard for folk to enjoy themselves in the traditional way, (standing, clapping hands and singing) by handing out warnings to everyone around who decided to stand for more than 10 seconds. Thistle then reacted and wasn't so long ago "the shed" was created at city end. This had a right good few afternoons of singing and banter, with away supporters complimenting us on a good atmospheric home support.

When I was a wee(er) laddie, i used to love going up to fence in shed, and surely the youth of today should be afforded that choice ?

The main stand whether(sp?) shut or open never had any atmosphere, and to suggest that the ex board members have added directly to the lack of atmosphere is surely a bit OTT, why would we open 2 stands for such a low crowd. ?

Hospitality guests seem to enjoy the seats in as good an atmosphere as their gonna get-- doesnt really affect the "crowd" in city end.

 

 

The problem lies(IMO) in that Thistle are terrible, and not enough people are parting with their money to watch. I'm one of the "supporters" who have to fight hard with work,wife( honest!), money,car, mortgage,beer, children about where i spend my spare time, and sadly, it seems to me that my dough and time are better spent elsewhere.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Wee Gus

[Vom Itorium]

Locating the Shed section near the away fans is guaranteed to bring a bit of atmosphere back to the old place. Sadly as many say the apathy surrounding the club leads to many who may have once belted the hits out just sitting slowly clapping away if anything at all.

 

Something has to be tried and for me there would be no harm in switching things around for a few games, especially now the polis are non-existent, and see what happens.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Vom Itorium

[Watson Towers]

The one thing that might help bring back a bit of atmosphere is terracing. Would it really be beyond the wit of man to pull up the middle section of seats and bung in a few crush-barriers. Lord Taylor sux cox, as do all his pen-pushing minions in the football authorities: we'd show 'em...