Hope that return of official Ross County Supporters Club can unite fans
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A SPOKESMAN for the returning official Ross County Supporters’ Club hopes that it will become a focal point for fans wherever they are.
The football club confirmed the return of an official organisation for supporters just before the Dundee game earlier this month, with the Supporters’ Club launching social media channels with a teaser for more activity in early 2024.
Shaun Campbell has been integral to getting the group up and running, stemming from conversations he had with County chief executive Steven Ferguson about how to make the football club and its fans a more unified collective.
It has been months in the making, but a meeting is planned for during the winter break in January to establish a committee.
Campbell hopes that from there, momentum will pick up significantly as events are organised and more voices are able to have their say.
He also hopes that, with groups like the Black Isle Supporters Club and the Central Staggies already established, the official supporters’ club can become a place for everyone to collaborate.
“For me, it’s going to be the focal point for Ross County fans,” Campbell said.
“I see the official supporters’ club representing all the other clubs. We want to get their ideas as well, because we want to get input from all fans from all backgrounds, and bring them into one club that the football club know they can go to.
“There will be a network going through from the supporters’ club to the football club, so we’re all on the same page. We want to come together, and this supporters’ club will hopefully have a lot to do with it.
“You can have a supporters’ club that isn’t involved with the club, but we’re such a small, community football club that without them being involved and wanting it to work, it probably wouldn’t work.
“Making sure we can put on events when the supporters’ club want to – and obviously travelling to away games as well – will be a huge thing.”
Travel to away games is at the forefront of Campbell’s mind, and a partnership is already in place with Stagecoach to provide a coach for matches that will make the journeys as accessible as possible.
“Our away support hasn’t reached its potential this season because buses have been very hit and miss,” Campbell added.
“Numbers-wise, away support has been good, but not everyone has been able to go.
“The partnership with Stagecoach opens up three things: we can make sure it’s family friendly for everyone; we can make it affordable; and then the most important one for me is that there will be at least one wheelchair space for every bus that we run.
“My understanding is that we’ve only ever done that for cup finals before, so to have that for league games is huge.
“It doesn’t matter if you live on the other side of the world, in the central belt or in the Highlands. It doesn’t matter if you have a disability, if you’re old or young, this club is for everybody and we want to make sure that remains the case.
“My ultimate dream is that in five years we have more than one bus leaving the stadium for away games. We only usually run one bus, so if we can up the away support and get two or three buses – with two or three wheelchair users on each of them – that would be huge.”
