Poor Home Crowds Still Plague St. Johnstone

Eighteen months ago, we spoke to St. Johnstone owner Adam Webb for an interview for this space.

It was truly a pleasure, given that he seems like a nice fellow and the club were great to work with in setting it up.

During that conversation, Webb discussed one of his most noteworthy ambitions for the Perth club: reducing the ticket allocations for traveling supporters, specifically Celtic and Rangers.

To do so, of course, there would need to be an uptick in ticket sales to Saints supporters.

At least initially, as of February 2025, the response from the St. Johnstone faithful had been lukewarm at best.

“We are reevaluating our policies for the future,” Webb said at the time. “Most fans understand that we must do what is best for the financial viability of the club.”

A few months later, of course, the Saints were relegated to the Championship. However, their time in the second tier was brief, having earned promotion back to the Premiership after one season out in the cold.

In two-plus seasons under Finnish manager Simo Valakari, the club are striving to play an attractive style of football, one that would, presumably, be appealing to supporters.

Six matches in, the side sit a respectable seventh in the league table, having played several of the “bigger clubs” in Scotland—Hearts and Hibs, in addition to Celtic. With that fixture list, seven points from a possible 18 for a newly promoted club isn’t bad.

So, have supporters in and around Perth bought in?

Apparently not. For Celtic’s visit to McDiarmid Park on Wednesday, three of the stadium’s four stands were filled with away supporters, a fact that must be as demoralizing to the Saints players as it is to club officials.

This was in spite of the fact local musicians Erickson & Lynch were there to entertain supporters prior to the match in the new Muirton Suite at McDiarmid Park.

“We understand that this decision [to restrict home supporters to the Geoff Brown Stand] divides opinion,” the club said in a statement. “However, as previously stated, the additional revenue generated from these fixtures provides a significant financial boost to St Johnstone Football Club, which is vital in helping us compete and invest both on and off the pitch.”

Although the decision was made weeks ago, recent events aren’t likely to boost attendance. Reports suggest there were altercations between Saints supporters group Fair City Union and members of the Hibs ultras Block Seven before the two sides met at McDiarmid on Sunday. Police were also involved in the skirmishes and a couple of arrests were made.

Just months after investing in St. Johnstone, Webb told us that he valued the club’s “140-year history … beautiful city and incredible supporters.”

A penny for his thoughts now.