Stephen McIlkenny: The SFA asking for blind faith from Tartan Army

Scotland fans are being asked to put their hands in their pockets once again. Picture: SNS

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It’s been a forgettable year for the SFA, and it’s only February.

Indeed, it could be considered fair comment to suggest that confidence in the governing body of the Scottish game is at an all time low.

Currently, there is no chief executive after Stewart Regan stepped down after eight meek years in charge. Just yesterday it was announced that the interim chief executive Andrew McKinlay is to leave the governing body in May to become chief executive of Scottish Golf. The future of Hampden is in doubt with Murrayfield being considered as a replacement venue, the sponsorship deal with Vauxhall is running down (with no sign of any renewal) and after publicly endorsing a future manager for weeks, we failed to land Michael O’Neil, leaving the team with no manager in charge ahead of a host of meaningless friendlies that were randomly arranged against Costa Rica, Hungary, Peru and Mexico.

So what better time for the SFA to ask the Scotland support for £50.

Or in my case, and the case of many loyal Tartan Army fans, £40 to renew your Scottish Supporters Club membership that now no longer guarantees home match tickets as it did in the past, but instead offers “priority access to home match tickets, as well as exclusive access to away match tickets.”

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Fans are being asked to dig deep before many of the issues listed above have been resolved, and before we even know who we’ll be playing and the ticket prices. Last campaign I renewed my membership and was stung after the ludicrous prices of individual games was revealed, e.g £57 to watch the game v England. The same is happening with this new SSC appeal. Rather than promote the ticket prices based on set categories giving a clear pricing structure early on, fans have been given a breakdown of what prices were last year with warning that prices for each game will be based on the reputation of our opponents rather than Scotland itself.

But surely these fans being asked to cough up for the privilege of being in the SSC deserve the full picture. Instead of waiting for the draw to set higher prices against seeded teams, the SFA should be setting their prices for the group stages with the aim of filling the stadium. If ticket pricing was revealed at the same time as the membership it would allow fans to know the full cost right away and give them every possible factor to help them make their decision.

However, it would be unfair to only list the issues I have with the scheme. To give the SFA credit, there have been attempts to improve and some changes have been implemented following consultation with fans. A new loyalty points system will ensure a parity amongst supporters and should make it easier for loyal home fans to make the occasional trip away. The points will work as a priority queue for tickets, however it will only be used if the membership exceeds 35,000. That in itself poses a major question.

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Last campaign, only two games played at Hampden exceeded attendances of 45,000 (England and Slovakia) with three competitive games and friendlies having less than 36,000 each time. So what chance is there really that the SSC membership will exceed 35,000? While it is also a positive that the price is down by £10 from the last campaign and that the discount for SSC members on public sale tickets has improved, fans will have still potentially paid £50 more on a membership overall for little need.

As I sit here writing this, I can’t help but think why I would consider rejoining, and the truth of the matter is, despite being a passionate Scotland fan, there aren’t many. The fear of missing out on ‘I was there’ moments has long been lost on Scotland’s followers and it is about time that the SFA dropped this attitude and started offering the fans something that was truly worthwhile rather than guilting them into passing off their hard-earned cash based on hope and rhetoric.

Surely, given the unknown that is the League of Nations, and the fact that the games are played on a Monday or Tuesday, the SFA could at least give SSC members a free ticket to one of the games ensuring a large turnout? Correct me if I am wrong but a 30,000+ crowd at a smaller profit margin is better than 15,000 crowd at £30 a pop? Low attendances have long been an issue at Scotland national games, and by out-pricing fans we are failing to learn from lessons of the past.

My main issue with the prospect of renewing my SSC membership is the number of unknowns. And I am sure many in the same position feel the same. Aspects such as prices, manager, plans for Euro 2020 games at Hampden and much more are yet to be revealed, so how can fans be expected to sign up? There is no clear message from the governing body that fills me with confidence. Quite frankly, it is my opinion that the SFA are relying on the blind faith of fans, however, given the abject performance of the body so far, it may be in short supply.

Last year, I wrote a piece after Celtic called for a review of the governing body as a whole due to “a failure in transparency, accountability and leadership” urging for a review to be carried out “on that basis that Scottish football could learn lessons and move on”. I wonder how far down this sorry road we’d be if a review had gone ahead into the governing body, because at the moment I wouldn’t trust the SFA to find a tea bag at Tetleys.

We wonder why so many belittle Scottish football, and the governing body that runs it, but the SFA has become the laughing stock of the country, and once again it is the fans that put in so much and have been more than loyal that are paying the price. At a time where the SFA are in desperate need of a win, the latest announcement only adds pressure to an organisation that is fast-becoming out of touch with the everyday supporter.

They’re asking those that have suffered so much to trust them, to trust them that everything will be OK, that change is coming and to once again believe in the national team.

But I have a very simple flaw in that argument: trust has to be earned.