Sevco sent out their season ticket renewal forms yesterday, in an effort to ride on the wave of two games without a win.
There was a sting in the tail for those fans still celebrating their second tier title and their Petrofac Cup.
Their prices are increasing. A lot.
King, in an effort to reassure them, offered the caveat that they’d only be going to Rangers level post liquidation prices … but that was to watch a financially doped squad full of international players and with European football guaranteed every year, particularly with the SFA scrutinising licensing requirements with such a lack of regard for what’s in them.
This present Sevco team “boasts” Kenny Miller and a handful of English lower league rejects, and whilst they recently celebrated the high-point of their footballing existence by knocking a shambolic Celtic out of the Scottish Cup – on penalty kicks, it has to be said – in recent years Ross County, Inverness, Kilmarnock and even Clyde have all beaten us in domestic cup competitions and none has gone on to take world football by storm.
Even as the season ticket forms went out, Miller was sending a coded message to their supporters by telling them the squad, and the management team, are confident of taking Celtic on next season even without big name signings.
Which is just another way of saying “Don’t worry that there are not going to be big name signings. Everything will be alright.”
Sevco is currently run by Dave King, a convicted tax cheat from South Africa, a man who major companies in the Square Mile won’t deal with.
No bank will give them an overdraft or loans.
Their merchandising deal is a steel trap and although they recently gave notice that they want out, it’s got a cancelling period with a whopping six and a half years still to run.
Several former directors are facing criminal trial and the ownership of the assets is up in the air.
Things at Ibrox are so uncertain that yesterday even Keith Jackson was moved to ask some hard questions, doubtless after opening up his own season book renewal letter and wondering just waht it is he’s getting for his money.
The club is dependent on soft loans to keep on the lights, and there’s no guarantee that they will even be around to complete next season’s fixtures.
An increase in the price of season tickets, with so much uncertainty, is a bold move on King’s part, but one he pretty much needs to move forward with if they’re going to stand a chance of surviving at all.
Celtic’s season ticket renewal forms have not yet gone out, with the club in the process of wrapping up five in a row and preparing to appoint a new manager.
Whether prices increase there remains to be seen.