St Johnstone’s support for Saturday’s Scottish Cup clash with Rangers could be the lowest in the Perth club’s modern history.
Courier Sport understands under 300 tickets have been bought so far.
They went on sale a week ago, with priority for season ticket holders ending earlier today.
It has proved to be a highly controversial decision by Saints and Rangers to allocate visiting fans three stands and fix adult cost of entry at £30.
Fan anger persisting
Anger is still hanging in the air following the announcement made over a fortnight ago – despite the fact up to 600 free tickets have been made available to both clubs for under-12s.
And it appears that Saints supporters are voting with their feet.
Unless there is a dramatic change, such a meagre home crowd will be unprecedented in the McDiarmid Park era of the club.
You have to go back to the 1985-86 season and Muirton Park for the previous low – and before Geoff Brown took over.
1986 | Just 466 watch St Johnstone beat Albion Rovers 1-0 in a Division Two tie. Saints would finish the season in 6th place in the 14 team Division Two. pic.twitter.com/XIzMoZcjdV
— Saints On This Day (@SaintsOTD) April 19, 2020
As Saints toiled in the bottom division of the football league under Ian Gibson, three figure crowds were all too common.
And the low point was an end-of-season clash with Albion Rovers when there were just 466 paying customers inside Muirton to watch a 1-0 home win.
At McDiarmid, even in a campaign as grim as the one John Connolly was in charge for nearly 20 years ago, the average attendance was almost 2,500.
