Danny Lennon will be taking his St Mirren side to Motherwell tomorrow if the weather does not disrupt the planned game. Lennon wants some serious discussion to take place regarding how to avoid losing even more fans by asking them to continue to turn up and sit in a freezing seat during the winter.
He was one of the 1,607 spectators - the lowest league attendance in McDiarmid Park's history - when St Johnstone lose out to Aberdeen in driving wind and rain on Tuesday night. The A9 was closed at Blair Atholl because of snow and both bridges over the Tay were closed due to strong winds, with the Forth and Clackmannan Bridges closed to high sided vehicles.
However, after consulting with both managers, Bobby Madden agreed that the game should go ahead with fans and players alike struggling in the conditions.
St Mirren's 2-2 draw with Aberdeen last weekend was also played in difficult conditions, while the Dunfermline-Kilmarnock game was controversially postponed because of fog. Lennon believes fans are not being considered enough and, like Dundee United manager Peter Houston, feels real debate is needed about the timing of the season.Lennon said: "I would like to thank all the fans who travelled up to Aberdeen for us last week.
"Their support means so much to us, and fans are the lifeblood of our game, and we need to treat them with the utmost of respect. I was at the SPL game in midweek with Aberdeen and St Johnstone and there were less than 2,000 turned up to watch. We need to ask ourselves - what is it the fans don't like? I think it's time we considered a winter break or summer football. Last year we had so many games cancelled because of the snow and some of the pitches struggled to cope. This year we have had gale-force winds and freezing fog. Not many people want to sit in freezing stands or travel in poor conditions to watch football, which is then adversely affected by the weather conditions. We have to ask ourselves if our set-up is the best to attract people to watch the national game and to develop the quality of football we want to play in Scotland."
SPL League chief executive Neil Doncaster has already stated that the international fixture calendar is too complex to consider real change.
However, Lennon went on: "I know there are a lot of permutations that would maybe stop that but we have got to give it serious thought. We run the full months of May, June and July without really kicking a ball."
Source: FOOTYMAD
