Celtic’s Next Tour Might Be Japan, But We Should Be Thinking About North America.

Yesterday, Ange talked about how Celtic’s next “world tour” might be to Japan. I see the attraction, and I understand why that would be a good move in terms of growing the club’s international appeal and planting the flag. It’s pretty smart.

But in terms of crowd-pleasing, in terms of tapping into a market that already exists and making it feel valued and welcomed, the club has to consider North America, the US and Canada both.

Starting with New York and Boston, and then heading to Toronto, that would be an excellent trip and I know many of us would make the journey to see friends and family during it.

The pre-existing support base exists in those places, and Boston, of course, has additional opportunities if we’re willing to push for them.

The Celtics are a natural hook-up, and although I’m certain there are people who’ve explored that possibility before now I wonder how hard they really pushed for it.

I wonder if having us go there and putting on a show would be more effective than anything else that we could do.

Seeing us taking on MLS teams would be excellent.

I am a big fan of the football over there and the quick aggressive style they play would present us with a real challenge, and the US fans, who love to see that kind of intent, would certainly enjoy us.

I think we could leave a major impression behind, and really do well. Publicise it beforehand, make sure the games are against good sides and push it like crazy. Japan will still be there. The Far East is an area we should definitely be focussed on, but in terms of pure marketing and making a big push North America has been grossly overlooked.

Which considering the huge support we have over there makes it an ideal location for our next big trip abroad.

Celtic must know that’s just good sense.