St Mirren chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick has been talking about the financial impact Celtic supporters can have on his club’s finances.
It’s obviously been long known that the boosted attendances for clubs in the top-flight are vital when Celtic come to town.
However, Fitzpatrick has revealed a match against the Bhoys can even be the difference between signing a player or not.
He has admirable ambitions to one day have more home fans in attendance and reducing our capacity, but as it stands he is fully justified in trying to pack in as many Hoops supporters as possible.
Speaking to Football Scotland, he said: “There’s nobody more against Celtic and Rangers fans getting the two stands here than me. I’ve made that statement already but, up until the day we can fill this with St Mirren supporters, it’s crazy for us not to do that.
“The money it brings in gets us a player. Every time I see Celtic and Rangers fans in the two stands behind the goals, I always think: ‘We can buy a player’. That gets me through it.
“I’d love nothing more than this place full of St Mirren fans and we’re giving Celtic and Rangers 200 tickets and they’re in a corner somewhere. That’s a dream I’ve always had.
“We don’t like giving our tickets away, but a football club is a business as well. We need to allow it for us to grow.”
It doesn’t sound like our allocation will be cut at St Mirren any time soon and as red zone restrictions ease at stadia across the country over the coming months, the same will be said of the other smaller Premiership clubs.
Rival fans hate it when we dominate the attendance, but that’s life in Scottish football at the moment and clearly the financial impact of Celtic fans is a benefit to their teams. So rather than moan about it, perhaps remember the situation when a player is announced on deadline day.
In other news, Celtic boss Postecoglou’s perfect response to journalist’s Jota question today.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
