To whom it may concern,
I have written this with regards your Football Club. Aberdeen FC is Scotland’s most successful domestic club out with the Old Firm. Our European successes are second to none in every aspect of the Scottish game.
Aberdeen fans have regularly attended games at home and away, and have enjoyed their times in many European cities.
But recently it would appear that Aberdeen FC, the club whose encouraging posters displayed all over the internet and the City of Aberdeen itself, included the words ‘Your City, Your Team’, have been treating its fans with disdain. Supporters groups have been forced out of Pittodrie. Vociferous fans like the Red Ultras who were once lauded by the Club, where then driven out of the Richard Donald Stand into Section Y, and then ousted from the stadium completely. Yet you, the people who hounded out these fans, still use pictures of Red Ultras displays to promote the club. Ironic, isn’t it? The Stewards, the employees of Aberdeen FC, seem to relish every opportunity to give Aberdeen fans abuse, ensuring that even the children, the future of the club, do not wish to attend games at home anymore, preferring to attend games away, with stewards who treat fans better.
The Old Firm come to Pittodrie and are given a free reign within the stadiums confines. They are given free licence to sing sectarian/political/religious songs without fear of punishment. Songs which are banned are sung in loud voices by fans that are treated far better than the fans who are supposed to be the life blood of the club. They stand, they sing, they pop off smoke bombs without any repercussions from the stewards, while the home fans are treated like bad children. Any minor indiscretion is pounced upon by overzealous stewards, who would rather face a group of teenagers daring to stand in an empty part of the stadium, than a group of Old Firm fans singing songs of hate and bile, while standing, citing ‘safety in numbers’ as the reason behing their fear of asking the OF to sit down.
The fans of Aberdeen FC have had enough of this. They have been voting on the way the club is run in their thousands; they have been voting with their feet. The last four or five seasons has seen attendances diminish by the thousands, people who were there for the glory years, fans who survived the relegation battles during the Skovdahl era have had enough.
This close season will see the lowest number of Season Tickets sold by the club in history I fear. Attendances next season will drop further and further unless something is done.
You, the people in charge of Aberdeen Football Club must affect the changes required to get people back into Pittodrie. You have shown a glimmer of the ambition required to do this in the successful signing of Craig Brown and Archie Knox. These two people, in conjunction with you can make this once proud, successful Club into the force it deserves to be. Fair stewarding of all fans visiting Pittodrie, fair treatment of all fans visiting Pittodrie, whether home or away fans will help you with this, and will see many fans get off your back and start backing the team once again. Only you, the board, can affect the changes that are badly needed to do this, only you, the board can provide the means to the manager, and to the fans, in which change can be seen.
As mentioned above, you use the phrase ‘Your City, Your Team’ in your promotion of Aberdeen FC, actually it is more apt to say back to you, if you want the backing of the City, you need to sort out the Team.
‘Your Team, Our City’
DITA
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