Originally Posted by Returnofrros
Agreed! Few passionate supporters want an amalgamation. Tribalism and pride dominate the issue. From a financial standpoint, the 'A' word makes sense and as we have seen all too often it's the filthy lucre which dictates matters. Amalgamation is kept at bay either by success at one or both clubs, showing it is unattractive and unnecessary, or by the real danger of alienating many or most of the people whom the survival of the clubs depends on, i.e. the respective fans. Either by reality or design, both of the City's clubs are struggling financially, a situation which appears to have only a more depressing future. Any amalgamation would have to be sold as something else, e.g. a takeover, and an inevitability to ensure survival of 'both' clubs. I'm sure you are far from being alone (from both sets of supporters) in having a desire to write the epitaph on your rivals tombstone. The survival of both clubs therefore has to be a key ingredient. In other words the city either has one club or none.
At Inverness, who went from two separate 'Highland League' teams to a Premier side (finishing 3rd once and winning the Scottish Cup) in a short space of time, they have failed to unite a large portion of the city's football following, manly because of the emotional rejection of amalgamation. Inverness is a city of 50,000+ inhabitants with a considerable surrounding catchment area, yet they average less than 4,000 fans at home games. On the other hand Ross County, average over 4,000 fans, yet Dingwall is a small town of 5,000+ inhabitants. Do many of RC's following hail from Inverness and have chosen RC rather than the amalgamated city club to follow?
If the Shed achieve their 'apparent' ambition of not getting promoted this season, then what? There will be few players left at Tanny anyway. What have the Shed then to offer the Dehs? Basically a stadium........just a stadium. What are the Dehs looking into? A stadium! I doubt if any one of our then remaining players would walk into the Deh (or amalgamated) squad. Maybe 2 or 3 for 'political' reasons, but in effect, despite the Dehs being bottom feeding strugglers, the Shed playing pool currently has little to offer them.
One club provides a ground to play at (little or no expense). The other club provides a team, which can be built on. The remaining ground can be sold to strengthen the team, pay off debts, strengthen the team, etc.
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