WHAT was that infamous old line again?

“If it’s entertainment you want, go to the cinema.” What a kicking Bobby Williamson took when he came out with that one. Here was a manager – then in charge of Hibernian – openly divorcing football from the entertainment industry and himself from the obligation to provide supporters with stylish, memorable play. Williamson seemed to be saying “forget style, my livelihood’s at stake, Scottish football is about cold, hard pragmatism and youse lot can like it or lump it.”

The remark made him seem more dour than ever, but it struck a nerve because of the fragile hold football has on the public even in a country as obsessed with the game as Scotland. What if supporters took Williamson at his word? Hibs’ attendances declined while he was in charge. It seems some decided the cinema wasn’t such a bad option after all.

The last thing football needs is 
one of its own dropping hints that supporters might find better things to do with their spare time at a pub, shopping centre, bowling alley or any other alternative attraction. Anywhere people can get easily parked, be dry and warm, and can be sure they will be entertained or otherwise fulfilled is a very real and genuine threat to every club in the land.

Scotland’s average wage is £28,300. Disposable income is not exactly inexhaustible and a family of four going to a Clydesdale Bank Premier League game can’t expect much change out of £100 once tickets, petrol, food, drink and programmes have been purchased. Earlier this year a survey by sponsors Clydesdale Bank found that 47% of supporters said high ticket prices were the reason they didn’t go to more games.

Forget Michael Ballack on 
£150,000-a-week, forget £80m 
Cristiano Ronaldo deals or tickets up 
to £70 to watch Chelsea or Arsenal in the English Premier League, the real figures which matter in Scottish football are a fiver here and there, another couple of pounds on the gate from one week to another. It costs around £20-£25 for an adult to watch an top flight game, around £12 in the first division, 
£10 in the second and £9 in the third.

Scotland’s 42 senior clubs – every one of them, from Celtic and Rangers to Elgin City and Annan – are locked in an unending battle for the hearts and minds of people who could abandon them at any time to spend and their leisure time elsewhere. For someone 
like David Longmuir, the Scottish Football League chief executive, his 
job requires constant ideas and innovations to keep his lower leagues attractive and relevant.

Longmuir isn’t short of ideas, and 
he knows what he’s up against. “People are having to make choices now about how to spend their £20 for a day out on a Saturday. Do we take the kids to the cinema, do we go somewhere different, or do we go to the football? There are more comfortable things for people to do in their lives now than go to football. It can be quite a tough challenge to go to a football match. It’s not always the most comfortable of places to go on a Saturday.”

Interesting ideas bubble out of Longmuir during a conversation. He likes the idea of sides taking a penalty shoot-out before kick-off in Challenge Cup ties, so that the winners would be pre-determined if the tie was to end in a draw. “The Challenge Cup is not the Champions League. It’s a competition where we can try things. We have contemplated asking non-league clubs to participate. We are trying to refresh things, do things differently, make it a family-friendly event.”

He thinks that clubs which have the latest, 3g artificial pitches could allow supporters to walk over them and feel them if they wished at the end of a match. Why not have clubs directly attached to the nearest local school, so that something like “Brechin City Football Club Primary School” might cement the relationship between a small club and its community? In essence, Longmuir believes he and his 30 member clubs should continually circulate ideas which may appeal to people who might otherwise drift away and spend their money elsewhere.

“Football used to be seen as the sport of the masses. It’s not any more. Other sports have become accessible to people who don’t have an awful lot of money to spend. Even golf is not that expensive in this country. I used to play indoor bowls for Scotland. Every Saturday there were buses going all over Scotland to indoor bowls. And the average age was young, they were what you would call ‘football people’ – we all supported a team but were playing a different sport.

“It wasn’t like this a generation ago. Football is not the only option any more. Bowling, rugby, cricket, curling, hockey: there are people playing all these sports on a Saturday. A massive number of people play these now and no longer see football as the No.1 choice.

“So let’s think of new ideas, fresh ways of thinking. It’s not just about fans buying a pie and a pint. Clubs should think about doing something unique, something that’s not being done anywhere else. Our clubs are so focused on the four walls of their club and how they can generate income just to keep their club alive. So I think innovation is lacking, but it’s difficult. Somebody, somewhere, has to try things.

“There’s a lack of marketing expertise among the clubs. I would never criticise any of them because they are doing their best. But I would go to the schools, try to engage them. Why not adopt the local schools? Instead of Brechin Primary School why not make it Brechin City Football Club Primary School? 
Why not name a school to attach it to a club? Engage the community. If you have a couple of local junior teams then let them use your 3g pitch so that it becomes the town’s pitch.”

Engaging someone to make a life-long commitment to, say, East Stirlingshire or Albion Rovers is extremely difficult but every club has its hardcore following. Longmuir believes season-ticket holders should become ambassadors who are rewarded with club merchandise if they convert their friends and colleagues to come along too. He has done arithmetic which found that over the course of a lifetime a season-ticket holder puts £25,000 into the coffers of a small club.

There is not a cinema, supermarket or bowling alley in the country which can buy loyalty like that.