Are Pars fans unhappy or spoiled rotten?

By: Ian Rose | November 21st, 2007

It’s been an interesting few years for the fans of Dunfermline Athletic Football Club. Always a dangerous cup team, they went all the way to the final of the Scottish Cup last season, only to fall to Celtic by a single goal. Meanwhile, their league situation was dire, and they were relegated out of the SPL. However, with the cup final came a free ticket to the UEFA Cup, a ticket they squandered, managing only a draw and a loss in two poor European matches. Now, as they struggle to stay in at least a mid-table position in the second tier of Scottish football, they are in yet another cup final, this time for the Challenge Cup against St. Johnstone. Granted, the Challenge Cup is no match for the Scottish Cup, since the SPL sides don’t compete for it. But, Dunfermline is apparently having some major problems getting fans anywhere near the match.

Two schools of thought seem to exist on Pars’ fans unwillingness to attend the Challenge Cup final. One way of looking at it is that fans are unhappy with their team’s performance, and less than thrilled about shelling out for yet another loss. This is certainly part of it, since after relegation, Pars were everyone’s favorites to jump right back up to the SPL, something that looks less and less likely to happen. But there’s another side to it. St. Johnstone midfielder Paul Sheerin told icScotland he believes it has more to do with spoiled fans than unhappy ones. They’ve played Celtic for one of the oldest cups in the world, and played in Europe … who wants to go to see a third-tier cup against a fellow second-tier squad?

A loyal fan, that’s who. Pars are in some trouble right now, but they’re not going to get out of it without some support from the fans, and if I was a Pars fan (which, admittedly, I am not), I’d enjoy the moment. It may be a long spell before the words “cup final” and “Dunfermline” are uttered again in the same sentence, especially if the fans don’t support their side.