St Johnstone supporters’ club to close

Mar 5 2010 by Johnathon Menzies, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

FOOTBALL fans yesterday called for action to save Perth’s flagship St Johnstone supporters’ club.

Long-time club member Gavin Stewart admitted he was “saddened” by the prospect of the Dunkeld Road establishment closing at the season’s end in May.

And he called for its 450 members to get together to thrash-out survival plans.

Mr Stewart told the PA: “I believe the club’s closure is down to a lack of creativity and endeavour by the decision-makers.

“Because the club doesn’t have satellite TV, people don’t pop in during the week to watch a game of football and have a few pints.

“With the right people and strategy behind it, the club could be a success again.

“I would urge St Johnstone and those behind the social club to get together for a meeting.

“It would be interesting to hear the football club’s views as to whether there’ll be a supporters’ club elsewhere in the town.”

St Johnstone chairman Geoff Brown said he sympathised with fans who regularly drink in the only Fair City pub officially linked to the McDiarmid Park side.

But he cautioned: “The only reason we’re taking it away is because not enough people are using it.

“I feel sorry for the fans that do go there, but the bottom line is it’s not been profitable for the last four years.

“The smoking ban has probably sounded the death knell for a lot of supporters’ clubs, they’re all struggling at the moment.

“Last season, the team was around the top of the table for the whole season.

“You’ve got to make a profit while the going’s good and it hasn’t been doing that.

“Things like installing Sky television are fine, but do people really know how much these things cost?”

Saints director Dougie McIntyre – who supervised the supporters’ club’s organising committee – echoed Mr Brown’s comments.

He said it had been decided at a meeting last month that the last orders bell would ring for the final time at the end of the current football season.

He said: “The club has been great for St Johnstone over the years, but it’s reached the end of its current life.

“Things like the smoking ban have played a part, but so has the situation with the overall economy.

“I haven’t been made aware of any plans for the building as of yet. But it’s an ideal opportunity for a group of supporters to take it over and run it off their own back.

“I’m sure if anyone submitted a realistic business plan it would be considered alongside all the other alternatives.”

The prospect of the former Tay Motel’s closure has attracted a string of posts on the ‘We are Perth’ internet fans’ forum.

It is believed the Muirton Park travel club – who use the ailing venue as a base when travelling to St Johnstone’s away matches – will switch to another location before the start of the 2010/11 campaign.