Aberdeen assistant manager Jimmy Nicholl wants to hear boos ringing around Parkhead in Tuesday's Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Celtic.Celtic's stadium is likely to be far from full for Aberdeen's visit, just as Pittodrie was sparsely populated for the original encounter, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
But however many Celtic fans turn up for the game, Nicholl is just looking for Aberdeen to put in a strong showing that will keep those supporters quiet.
He explained: "I don't know what the crowd is going to be, but when you go to Parkhead you always say the same things - you have to work hard, keep them quiet and don't give them any encouragement.
"You want to get the crowd quiet whether it be Celtic or Rangers you are playing and get them on the players' backs.
"It was working at Ibrox a few weeks ago when we were 1-0 up and the fans were getting at them.
"If there are only 30,000 fans at the game, I hope there are 30,000 fans booing the Celtic players off at half-time.
"If there is a crowd of 50,000 or there isn't, I don't care.
"As long as they are getting booed off the park at half-time, that will do me lovely."
Last October, Celtic were surprisingly beaten at home in a CIS Insurance Cup quarter-final by Hearts, in front of fewer than 22,000 supporters.
A year earlier, at the same stage of that competition, Falkirk emerged victorious at Parkhead via a penalty shoot-out with the ground less than a third full.
However, Nicholl does not put those shock defeats down to Celtic lacking inspiration when faced with a far smaller crown than usual and lots of empty seats.
He said: "I don't think a player goes out and looks around the stadium and thinks 'oh, there are only 30,000 people in here instead of 50,000'.
"There is a game of football to be played that both teams want to win, irrespective of what the crowd is."
Nicholl admitted he is unsure why fewer people are attending games in domestic cup competitions, refusing to single out the high number of matches being shown on television as the culprit.
He added: "I don't know if television is the reason why attendances are down.
"I am not going to blame TV because it has been good to us.
"If people don't come out to a game, then they don't come out, but if we get through to a final then hopefully they do."
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