Friday Night Football

Last updated : 14 October 2011 By Queens MAD

 

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SPL boss Neil Doncaster last night claimed only fan power can decide the fate of Friday night football... REPORTS tHE DAILY RECORD

The chief executive declared their pilot clash between Aberdeen and Dunfermline a success after 8333 punters turned up on a balmy night in the north east.

That's 700 up on the Pittodrie club's last Saturday home game with Kilmarnock but below their season average so far - even excluding their high figure against Celtic.

However, Doncaster insists only time - and a huge amount of fan feedback - will establish a true pattern for Friday games.

He said: "I was at the match and the atmosphere was tremendous.

"It was a sizeable amount more than Aberdeen's last Saturday attendance, the away support was impressive and the club seemed quite happy with the result.

"But it's far too early to tell which factors were at play in that - and we can't have a knee-jerk reaction either way. We have to run it for a number of games first.

"And more importantly we have to take as much feedback as we can from the supporters. They are who this is aimed at after all."

Partick Thistle also declared their first Friday foray a roaring success.

The 5-0 win over Morton in the First Division was played out in front of 3380 supporters - their biggest crowd of the season.

And general manager Ian Maxwell said: "All in all it was a success, although a lot of factors helped.

"Maybe it was the novelty value or the fact Morton were top of the league and brought along more than twice as many as they did the last time.

"Maybe it was the fact we sold out the hospitality with people coming straight from their work for a bite to eat and a pint.

"The weather was against us as it rained after a few days of sun but we were very happy with the way the Friday game went.

"We had one or two problems caused by the sheer size of the Morton support and apologise for that. We will sort it out in future.

"However, only time will tell how many of these games you can play on a Friday in a season.

"If the teams are geographically close, though, it helps."