Scottish Football Tickets?
March 3, 2015 4:57 AM Subscribe
If all goes well, we'll be in the Glasgow area around May 16th finishing off a week long Scottish vacation. I'd like to watch a live football game and (outside of a LFC vs Palace ticket appearing via genie wish) it seems the Scottish Premiership is my best bet. However, there are complications.
First complication is what is the best way for an American to arrange tickets to a match. The online purchase options from the clubs themselves seem rather late 90s and I'm concerned they'd toss up errors when I try to buy tickets out of country.
Second issue is the split that happens where the top of the table and bottom of the table separate. How hard is it to get tickets for the split games?
Third is who to prioritize trying to see. I'm 100% neutral when it comes to Scottish football. Being in Glasgow, my options are Celtic and Partick Thistle, but there's always the chance that neither team will be playing at home that day. How hard would it be to try to venture out from the city to see a different option (Motherwell, St.Mirren, Hamilton all look close-ish?) if there is nothing local available? Seeing as how Celtic will likely be walking away with the title by then (and my opinion of Old Firm clubs isn't very high) - would it be worth aiming for a non-Celtic option regardless?
Fourth question is - seriously, do y'all know a genie who can grant me a LFC vs Palace ticket? It being Stevie's last home game at Anfield, I don't have enough first born children to offer up to the Dark Gods and would need a more miraculous option.
First complication is what is the best way for an American to arrange tickets to a match. The online purchase options from the clubs themselves seem rather late 90s and I'm concerned they'd toss up errors when I try to buy tickets out of country.
Second issue is the split that happens where the top of the table and bottom of the table separate. How hard is it to get tickets for the split games?
Third is who to prioritize trying to see. I'm 100% neutral when it comes to Scottish football. Being in Glasgow, my options are Celtic and Partick Thistle, but there's always the chance that neither team will be playing at home that day. How hard would it be to try to venture out from the city to see a different option (Motherwell, St.Mirren, Hamilton all look close-ish?) if there is nothing local available? Seeing as how Celtic will likely be walking away with the title by then (and my opinion of Old Firm clubs isn't very high) - would it be worth aiming for a non-Celtic option regardless?
Fourth question is - seriously, do y'all know a genie who can grant me a LFC vs Palace ticket? It being Stevie's last home game at Anfield, I don't have enough first born children to offer up to the Dark Gods and would need a more miraculous option.
From my husband who is Scottish:
Most games (other than whoever is playing Celtic) you'll be able to buy tickets on the day. Scottish matches generally don't sell out.
Motherwell, Hamilton, St. Mirren and Kilmarnock (my team) are all reachable from Glasgow by train and you'll probably want to get a cab from the station to the grounds.
I'd rule out Aberdeen, Dundee and St. Johnstone as too far on the train.
As you said - May 16th is post split and the fixtures are not announced until the make-up of the top and bottom half of the division is known (nominally after the fixtures on 13th April but they may announce it earlier if the gap between 6th and 7th is too great to overcome).
http://spfl.co.uk/premiership/fixtures/
May 16th is the second last round of fixtures so in terms of interest you'll be looking at who is attempting to finish 2nd or 3rd (for European qualification) or avoiding finishing 12th or 11th (relegation / play-off places).
With the teams you are looking at then anything involving St. Mirren or Motherwell either at home or away to Kilmarnock or Partick are probably your best bets and I would expect that you can walk-up and buy tickets to any of those.
I wouldn't expect the greatest standard of football from any of those matches but it should be a good day out.
For the LFC game it might be worth checking on Twickets (app or the twitter account twitter.com/twickets). I occasionally see football tickets for sale on there, not sure about Liverpool though.
posted by like_neon at 7:17 AM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Most games (other than whoever is playing Celtic) you'll be able to buy tickets on the day. Scottish matches generally don't sell out.
Motherwell, Hamilton, St. Mirren and Kilmarnock (my team) are all reachable from Glasgow by train and you'll probably want to get a cab from the station to the grounds.
I'd rule out Aberdeen, Dundee and St. Johnstone as too far on the train.
As you said - May 16th is post split and the fixtures are not announced until the make-up of the top and bottom half of the division is known (nominally after the fixtures on 13th April but they may announce it earlier if the gap between 6th and 7th is too great to overcome).
http://spfl.co.uk/premiership/fixtures/
May 16th is the second last round of fixtures so in terms of interest you'll be looking at who is attempting to finish 2nd or 3rd (for European qualification) or avoiding finishing 12th or 11th (relegation / play-off places).
With the teams you are looking at then anything involving St. Mirren or Motherwell either at home or away to Kilmarnock or Partick are probably your best bets and I would expect that you can walk-up and buy tickets to any of those.
I wouldn't expect the greatest standard of football from any of those matches but it should be a good day out.
For the LFC game it might be worth checking on Twickets (app or the twitter account twitter.com/twickets). I occasionally see football tickets for sale on there, not sure about Liverpool though.
posted by like_neon at 7:17 AM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't have experience with Scottish football, but I will say that when I took a trip to Germany some years ago I was lucky enough to see Bayern München at the Olympiastadion and also TSV 1860 München (in the 2. Bundesliga at the time) at the Sechzgerstadion. I had way more fun at the smaller park with its intimate atmosphere and dedicated fans. If I were in your shoes, I'd go with Partick based on that experience.
Unless you can get into Anfield, of course.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:54 AM on March 3, 2015
Unless you can get into Anfield, of course.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:54 AM on March 3, 2015
As like_neon says, the only matches likely to sell out are Celtic away matches at some of the smaller grounds. Otherwise, it should be fairly easy to pick up tickets on the day. As you mention, the title race will likely be over, or practically so, so I would consider looking at one of the other matches for excitement. Best chance of this would be either a relegation battle, or perhaps a Hamilton-Motherwell derby match if the split works out that way. A small note on taking the train - Hamilton and Motherwell are definitely accessible by walking from the relevant train station.
Regarding ticketing arrangements, I would suggest that the easiest option at most of the clubs outside of Celtic is to simply phone with a credit card and arrange to collect on the day. They're mostly fairly small operations.
posted by Jakey at 12:08 PM on March 3, 2015
Regarding ticketing arrangements, I would suggest that the easiest option at most of the clubs outside of Celtic is to simply phone with a credit card and arrange to collect on the day. They're mostly fairly small operations.
posted by Jakey at 12:08 PM on March 3, 2015
And here is a comment direct from me: If you go to a Kilmarnock game make sure you get a Killie Pie! Yum!
posted by like_neon at 2:25 AM on March 4, 2015
posted by like_neon at 2:25 AM on March 4, 2015
Hopefully you can get to see a Thistle home game. That will let you stay in Glasgow and easy to get to. If they are home i may be able to set you up with some Thistle fans to go to the game with. Although they are retired they may want to take you to some bars as well, starting at the one i go to. They already travel up from England for every home game but there is no accounting for that kind of madness.
If you want to take the chance for Liverpool tickets an American friend went to get into what he thought was a sold out game a few years ago. While on holiday with his family in London he took the train up to Liverpool got chatting to other fans, told them his story, and ended up with a ticket.
posted by stuartmm at 8:09 AM on March 4, 2015
If you want to take the chance for Liverpool tickets an American friend went to get into what he thought was a sold out game a few years ago. While on holiday with his family in London he took the train up to Liverpool got chatting to other fans, told them his story, and ended up with a ticket.
posted by stuartmm at 8:09 AM on March 4, 2015
Response by poster: Looks like Thistle it is - ticket secured!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:28 PM on April 20, 2015
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:28 PM on April 20, 2015
For what it's worth: tickets to Gerrard's final match at Anfield are running in the $300-600 range.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:22 AM on May 13, 2015
posted by Rock Steady at 10:22 AM on May 13, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
There is a game due to be played on the 16th, but don't know if Celtic or Partick Thistle will be home.
Also Partick will likely be bottom half of split, but it could be a relegation battler and that'd make for a tense game.
Rangers fixtures will be done by then as there are less teams in the championship.
One thing to look out for is the championship playoffs - It'll most likely involve Hibs from Edinburgh so that would be a good one to catch.
posted by MarvinJ at 6:08 AM on March 3, 2015