I don’t know many Celtic fans who wouldn’t want to be at Tynecastle when we clinch six in a row under Brendan. Today’s win – and wasn’t it poor? Another rotten display, but where the three points were all that mattered – means we’re on the verge.
So in the ground where Brendan first tested his team, we will have a chance to wrap the league up.
That seems pretty fitting. It’s also pretty lousy.
It’s hard not to retain a little anger towards Hearts for the fact that just a handful of our fans will actually see it in person.
But I can’t hold onto it for long, because experience tells us that they will fill their ends of the ground pretty well and thus have a pretty good claim that all they are doing is looking after their own fans; the logic is unarguable.
Watching today’s game you couldn’t help but notice all the empty seats in the Dundee end; they cut our allocation for this one, for reasons known only to themselves, a move that cost them money thereby seems, to me, a little spiteful.
When the tickets were printed for this one it was perfectly likely that it would be Flag Day instead of against Hearts.
I’ve already speculated on whether we were being punished for something another club did; it no longer really matters.
Today Dundee lost a pretty penny; that’s their own fault. Celtic fans would have filled the ground five times over just on the off-chance it might have been a celebration; Dundee have only themselves to blame for not coining it in.
But six in a row is a milestone. Only two previous Celtic sides have ever accomplished it, and we know who the last ones were and what else they achieved. This is a landmark moment and it’s infuriating that we couldn’t have landed a home game in which to have fans, players and, of course, the manager brought together for the occasion.
Yet I wonder if there’s not perhaps something that can be done about that.
When was the last time we had a beam-back to Celtic Park?
Is this occasion “big” enough for one?
Would fans want it? Would they attend it?
Would they wait around after the game for the team to arrive at the ground? A number will stand outside and wait anyway; that’s become part of the title winning tradition here for a while now, so doesn’t it make sense for the club to give those folks a more complete experience?
It’s an occasion like this when you wish the infrastructure changes we’re embarking on had been done years ago, that there were a phalanx of bars and restaurants in the Celtic Village area for us to descend upon and enjoy the day with one another. It’ll be a while before we can celebrate one of these in that fashion, but it’ll come.
But for now, what would the fans like to see, and do, with this one? There are parts of this city where the party will start the day before and go on all through the weekend, so we know a lot of people are going to opt to enjoy themselves there … but for others, the idea of going to Celtic Park to watch it, amongst friends, and to greet the team upon their return … that could be a winner.
So come on JPT … are there any plans, and would the club make some if the fans wanted them?
I await the responses to this with great interest.