Written by Smithy on August 21st, 2009
According to an article in today's Herald, the Scottish Football Association are on the verge of signing a new kit deal with Adidas. As reported recently, Scotland's current kit supplier Diadora went in to liquidation at which point the SFA terminated the deal. The SFA currently have enough supplies of strips to last till the end of the current qualifiying campaign.
The deal is likely to be rather more than the £1 million a year from Diadora. A retailer recently appologised to Scotland fans for never having Scotland kit in stock - as he couldn't get enought supplies of it. It will be interesting to see if Adidas tap in to one of the biggest kit buying countries in the word.
On eBay at the moment
Posted in: General Tartan Army
Written by Smithy on August 20th, 2009
The Tartan Specials have announced they're to play at Hampden Park Stadium for the first time.
The band will be providing the half time entertainment during the Scotland V Macedonia and Scotland V Holland World Cup 2010 qualifiers on Saturday 5th and Wednesday 9th September.
This marks a real step forward for the band - there's not many small abnds who can say they've played in front of 52,000 fans!
There's stories circulating that ticket sales for the football match have increased due to the Tartan Specials gig during half time.
Posted in: General Tartan Army
Written by Smithy on August 4th, 2009
George Burley, Scotland Nation Coach, today announced the squad that will face Norway in Oslo on Wednesday 12th August.
| Goalkeepers |
|
| Neil Alexander |
Rangers |
| Jamie Langfield |
Aberdeen |
| David Marshall |
Cardiff City |
| |
|
| Defenders |
|
| Darren Barr |
Falkirk |
| Christophe Berra |
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| Gary Caldwell |
Celtic |
| Steven Caldwell |
Burnley |
| Callum Davidson |
Preston North End |
| Alan Hutton |
Tottenham Hotspur |
| Jamie McAllister |
Bristol City |
| Steven Whittaker |
Rangers |
| |
|
| Midfield |
|
| Graham Alexander |
Burnley |
| Scott Brown |
Celtic |
| Kris Commons |
Derby County |
| Darren Fletcher |
Manchester United |
| Paul Hartley |
Bristol City |
| Shaun Maloney |
Celtic |
| James McFadden |
Birmingham City |
| |
|
| Forwards |
|
| David Clarkson |
Bristol City |
| Steven Fletcher |
Burnley |
| Ross McCormack |
Cardiff City |
| Kenny Miller |
Rangers |
| Steven Naismith |
Rangers |
Posted in: General Tartan Army, Norway
Written by Smithy on July 27th, 2009
The Scotland Supporters club (or SSC) was formed in 2005 to replace the Scotland Travel Club (STC). Its main purpose was to allocate and distribute match tickets to Scotland International football fans for both home and away matches. For the first time children were admitted to the club.
The main change from the STC to the SSC was members were guaranteed a ticket for all home games held at Hampden. The SFA had always had problems getting people to join the STC as it was a “travel” club – it wasn't for people who didn't travel.
Another major change was members could no longer apply for as many home game tickets as they wanted. In the first few years of the SSC members could apply for their own ticket plus one extra. In recent years members have only been able to apply for their own ticket. This has meant that some non members who have always relied on others to buy their match ticket have been left high and dry.
Membership numbers were transferred across from the STC. Up until 2007 members had been able to re-activate their old membership number if they'd let their membership lapse. It seems the SSC finally dragged it's self in to the 20th century and computerised their records, which meant they could only hold information on active members (data protection act). If you let your membership lapse you'd be allocated a new (higher) number.
The first year membership ran from January 2005 to January 2006 and cost £20. This represented a price increase of 100% from the previous STC. To help sweeten this vast price increase the SSC gave away a “welcome pack” including kilt pin, t-shirt and an exclusive DVD. Some of these items occasionally appear on eBay.
From January 2006 membership ran for 2 years at a time running to January 2008 costing £40. During that period Scotland faced France twice, and won both games. This boosted the SSC membership from 17,000 members at the start of 2007 to 30,000. At this stage the SFA announced that the membership would be capped at 30,000 and no further applications to join would be accepted. This number was chosen so the SFA could still guarantee every member would qualify for a home game ticket. Later this figure was increased to 32,500 – the extra members were decided by an open ballot. At one point the SSC had a 10,000 person waiting list!
At the start of 2006 the membership number for new members was around 32,000 - by 2008 the number had rocketed to 52,000.
The SSC now runs on a 2 year cycle to match the current campaign. 2008 to 2010 will match with the qualifications for the South Africa World Cup. The next membership period will run 2010 – 2012 and will cover the qualifiers for the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine (and hopefully the world cup in South Africa!).
With the increase in cheap flights it's meant more fans can afford to travel to away games. This has then meant the “Points” system has had to be used more frequently. The points system was introduced in 1999 when demand for tickets outstripped supply. Points are awarded for attending an away match and normally cover the last 10 games. For the Macedonia away game in 2008 you needed 3 points out of the past 10 away games.
Unfortunately with increasing membership numbers the level of “customer service” has decreased. Members are now just a membership number and it's lost the personal touch. Many long term members remember the old days when the travel club was run by Marjory Nimmo. She seemed to know most members by first name.
The SSC has tried to bring it's self into the 21st century but has struggled to grasp new technology. Their online ticket system frequently failed, the members only website wasn't secure and some times displayed other peoples details. At the launch of the SSC they promised an SSC hall of fame, member’s forum, competitions and prizes, SSC merchandise and newsletters. The member’s forum lasted about 3 months before it was withdrawn and the first newsletter wasn’t sent out till 2009.
With 32,500 members the SSC has an income of around £650k per year. Tickets extra!
Posted in: General Tartan Army
Written by Smithy on July 18th, 2009
The Scotland Travel Club, also known as the STC, was formed by the Scotland Football Association in the early 1980's. The main purpose of the club was to provide match tickets to Scotland fans for away matches and to reward those who travelled regularly. It also gave fans priority when booking home game tickets. Before the club was formed, away tickets were distributed via the SFA. There was no membership system in existence.
In the first year of existence there were about 100 members. The first set of membership numbers were allocated alphabetically. We know from a security lapse in 2007 that member number 3 was still active and travelled to France. Rumour has it that member numbers 1 and 2 were a set of twins.
Membership always ran on a 2 year cycle. Membership started in January – join in November and your membership ran out in January. To join cost a one of fee of £10, and then £20 every other year.
By the year 2000 the membership number had reached 24,000 and by 2001 there were 15,000 active members. By 2005 the number of active members had reached 17,000.
Many will heave heard of Marjory Nimmo from the STC. Marjory ran the club for most of it’s life, and people often said she knew most people by name. If there was an issue, you knew Marjory would be able to help.
During the time of the STC, the SFA had an official travel agent called Scotball Travel and Leisure. Scotball arranged the official travel for the SFA and would usually run trips for STC members. At the time they were actually based in the offices of the STC and shared email and telephone numbers. Many fans travelled with Scotball the last time Scotland played in the World Cup in France 98. This seems to have been Scotballs last trip - many fans had bad experiences.
In 2006 the STC was replaced by the Scotland Supporters Club.
Posted in: General Tartan Army
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