Jim Craig was at Ibrox last year to watch us absolutely skelp Sevco. One would think he was not in an ordinary seat, with the rest of the Celtic supporters. He would have had a soft seat alongside the directors. He would have been comfy.
He enjoyed the game, of course. Every single one of us did.
We put five past their team and could have scored a Hell of a lot more. The day was an utter humiliation for everyone at their club. It was the first definitive moment where their fans should have realised that Pedro was going to be a total disaster. It’s amazing they let him spend that summer.
Craig would have been given the VIP treatment during that match; there’s little doubt about that. Ex-players, especially those with European Cups, are treated lavishly at opposition stadiums, and it doesn’t matter what the history – or lack thereof in this case – is. Craig would have seen the very best bits. The bits that are kept tip-top, so as to impress sponsors and advertisers and those investor types who you might be trying to entice.
He wasn’t impressed by the team on the park; that’s a no brainer. But nor was he impressed by the state of the stadium, The Crumble Dome, the aging relic of Ibrox which has been the subject of much debate here and elsewhere on its safety certificate and much else.
None of this is speculation; Ibrox is a state. But to hear an ex Celtic player say so …
Well that’s quite incredible, I think.
“Our traditional rivals from across the city are not in the best of financial health and I was really surprised at the poor state inside of Ibrox when I attended last season,” he said, which is the nice way of saying the place is a wreck.
Sevco’s accounts came out earlier this month, as you are all doubtless aware, and they contained a line about £850,000 being earmarked for stadium work in the next year … a modern stadium could eat that money like a circus fat man having a McDonalds. That ground was left without essential work being done to it for ten years … that kind of cash is chump change for turning that situation around. It won’t make a dent in their problems.
Because if a guy in the directors area can see the place is in such disrepair, think on how bad other parts of the ground have to be.
Rumours persist of problems with the roof. I know for a fact that their asbestos problems with the Marble Staircase will shut the whole ground down if that ever has to be dealt with in a meaningful way … there’s much more.
The club is facing a rates hike on top of that.
Stories about them hiving off a local water supply were briefly titillating but appear wide of the mark; nevertheless the council is charging them more to use its services. Things will come to a head with that ground … it remains the single biggest problem facing them in the long term. Forget football … without Ibrox that club is done.
There’s always Hampden, I guess … and with the SFA looking for a new home you wouldn’t put it past the Sevconuts to see it as a long term solution.