Sometimes it is easier to hear dissent from Tibet than from locations much closer to home. The banner held aloft by a group of Celtic supporters at Pittodrie two weeks ago would have made a great image for most television cameras, but this time the message had no chance of getting through.

It bore the slogan: “Football For Fans - not TV”. The Celtic supporters, who had left long before breakfast to be in the northeast for a 12.45pm kick-off for the Scottish Cup quarter-final, were voicing their unhappiness about paying the price for the armchair audience.

The protest was noted by BBC Radio, and the press box, but the Sky television cameras were not keen on picking it up. Celtic’s travelling support are now used to their away games being moved for live broadcast, but that does little to dispel the sense that the most important contributor to the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, the paying customer, is being given little respect.

It is so long since Celtic had an away game on a Saturday at the traditional 3pm that it was probably filmed in black and white. Rangers are the same. The Old Firm are the staple diet of Setanta, Sky and the BBC for either league or cup games. However, as the scene at Pittodrie betrayed – with thousands of empty red seats – it is the timing of matches and the decision by police forces throughout Scotland to make any away game involving Celtic and Rangers all-ticket that is bleeding the Scottish game of its richest source of revenue – visiting Old Firm fans.

On a weekend when Celtic face Gretna at Almondvale Stadium, viewed by the troubled Border club’s administrator as a financial lifeline, it will be interesting to see how many Celtic fans dip into their own pockets to fund another club, when the game is not only live on Setanta but has also had its location switched from Fir Park to Livingston just a few days ago. Hardly the way to drum up business.

When Gretna took on Celtic at Fir Park earlier in the season, the attendance was 6,011; of that, 5,000 were supplied by Celtic. The reason? Live television, high admission prices and the fact that people had to obtain tickets for an occasion deemed “all-ticket” when the ground was not even half full.

The folly of allowing free reign to the unholy alliance of television and all-ticket games has been most visible this season in the Scottish Cup. In February, the crowd for the Kilmarnock-Celtic tie at Rugby Park was just 6,491 – the lowest for any Old Firm visit in living memory.

Despite the fact that the tie had only been arranged at just four days’ notice, after Kilmarnock beat Airdrie United in a fourth-round replay, Kilmarnock were not allowed by the police to make it “pay at the gate”. Not surprisingly, the appetite for some Celtic supporters to make an extra journey up to their club ticket offices and buy tickets at £25 for a game being broadcast live on terrestrial television and kicking-off on Saturday lunch time, was somewhat diminished. Their response, however, was still better than the home support – two-thirds of of the 6,491 were wearing green and white, while the only blue on show were the thousands of empty Rugby Park seats.

When Celtic went to Pittodrie in the next round, the crowd was just 10,909. Another record low involving an Old Firm visit. And yet, it was the home support who were voting with their feet, not the away ones who had travelled 150 miles. The Celtic allocation of 3,300 was sold out and tickets were like gold-dust – in contrast, barely 7,000 Aberdeen fans bothered, many more settling down in front of the television instead.

Three decades ago, Celtic, or Rangers would have easily taken 20,000 fans to away grounds in Scotland every other Saturday. They would be ferried there on fleets of supporters’ buses. It was that sort of business on which football club treasurers relied upon. It was, to an extent, why the Premier League was created in 1975, with its emphasis on four home games with the Old Firm. Glasgow’s away-day culture was the lifeblood of other top-flight clubs, but now it is swiftly seeping away.

Once the Glasgow evening paper was filled with column inches of all the different branches of the Celtic and Rangers supporters groups, who advertised their bus departure times to away games. Now, it is minimal. A reflection of life in the 21st century, with slavish devotion to the car, or something deeper than that?

A Celtic spokesman confirmed that they have had a reduction in the number of supporters’ clubs who register with them. “The lack of ticket availability for branches for domestic games, and the fact that they are all-ticket, is the biggest problem reported to us,” the spokesman said. “We get less than 2,000 tickets for Falkirk and Tynecastle, and only 3,300 for Pittodrie. By the time those are dispersed, there is not enough for the traditional supporters’ clubs. It is not viable for them to run a bus to away games. Many fans say it is too expensive to go to so many away games. Fewer people, of the older generation, are able to run a bus now and most people would take a car. Once we had 50 buses going to a European tie in Germany. For the recent Champions League game in Barcelona, there was one bus – but more than 10,000 took the plane.”

The change in supporters’ lifestyle is also being noticed at smaller clubs, too. Ross Wayne has been involved in the Falkirk Supporters Club for over ten years. “There has definitely been a decline,” he said. “We have got six buses going to Tynecastle for the game with Hearts, which is not bad, but there used to be between ten and 15.

“The number of travelling fans is down and they are also going in different ways, rather than going on a bus. We are not alone. I have spoken to a Motherwell fan who says their association is now down to two buses. Is it any wonder that away crowds are now down? Admission fees play a part. Our bus has to make extra stops to pick up passengers just to keep the cost down. Ten years ago, we could fill two buses just from one Falkirk pub alone, but not now.”

- Hibernian’s Premier League fixture against Motherwell next Saturday will go ahead as planned at Fir Park, the Scottish Premier League has confirmed.

Motherwell were forced to call in independent experts after last week’s game against Celtic was called off, the eighth postponement to hit the Lanarkshire venue inside two months. But work this week has identified where the problem lies with the surface and Fir Park is set to be open for business again in time for the visit of Hibernian.

Rearranged dates for other fixtures postponed previously at Fir Park will be announced soon.