Hamilton Accies ominously ditch 2020/21 season tickets completely

By John McGinley

May 13, 2020

Hamilton Academical Chief Executive Colin McGowan has confirmed that his side won’t be offering supporters season tickets in 2020/21 due to ongoing concerns about various scenarios that might play out in Scottish football.

As we know, the game in Scotland is currently suspended due to the global health crisis, with no real indication of when games will return behind closed doors, nevermind with supporters in attendance.

Hamilton are setting their stall out early, adopting a ‘pay at the gate’ model rather than asking their fans to pay up in advance.

A statement on their official website said today: “It is our intention NOT to put season tickets on sale for season 2020/21. Our reasoning behind this decision is simple – there remains various scenarios that could halt the new season or prevent it from running smoothly, and with that in mind we will be adopting a “pay at the turnstiles” policy when supporters are allowed to attend matches again.

“The backing of our loyal fans is greatly appreciated and we hope that this policy will encourage all of you to support the club as much as possible when the time comes.”

This is in contrast to many other sides in the Premiership, including Celtic.

The Hoops continue to advertise and sell season ticket renewals, although have extended the deadline until June 30th, as announced on Tuesday.

The club say thousands of supporters have already committed their cash for the coming campaign which is wonderful backing considering we don’t really know if there’ll be anyone allowed into the ground.

Hamilton’s decision is an ominous sign that top-flight clubs are beginning to predict that much of next term will be played behind closed doors.

When will Celtic Park be full again? / (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

This is clearly a developing situation and there is likely to be more on the Celtic ticket situation specifically when the season is officially called.

Will the Hoops be offering proportional refunds, will they be optional so that generous fans can forego a refund or offset it against next season’s tickets and what kind of financial impact will that have on the club?

All good questions on the docket.

We know that Celtic will be trying their best to come up with the most appropriate solutions.