The Ibrox CEO went in front of his own fans the other day, for the latest of their “fan forums” and had to explain why they have basically been beaten by Celtic in terms of having to hand over more tickets to our fans from next season.
His contention is that we shouldn’t be too happy about it, as they will “never” go above the 5% allocation we’ve just been given.
Those comments should be bookmarked for the future.
I have a lot more to write on that “fan forum” later on … but for now what’s obvious is that these people simply refuse to learn. They refuse to heed the lessons of history. To say “never” in this scenario is madness. It is even stupider when you put it in the context he has.
They never wanted to give us 5%. They never wanted to go above the 700 they had initially offered. But they have been wrong-footed and outfought by Celtic at every turn here.
They were stunned by some of the moves we made during this, from refusing tickets to banning their fans. The SPFL did not want to be involved in this; we dragged them in.
Their club looks ridiculous as a result of this stuff, and it should be noted that he was there apologising to fans who he gave a categorical assurance to that they would not have to move out of their seats for these matches, and he was basically telling them that “yeah you will have to move after all.”
Which is hilarious, and must have been thoroughly embarrassing for him and for everyone in the room who realised what that meant.
He said that they only accepted this settlement because a much bigger one would have been “forced” on them at another time.
I am glad he realises that. But that possibility hasn’t been put to bed with this; far from it. This is nothing more than a gentleman’s agreement between two clubs and the league. It has no legal force and effect at all.
The issue with away fans isn’t dead and buried; there will be another tilt at solving this problem at the league-wide level and so 5% might not be the last word.
In fact, it’s almost certainly not going to be, and as the CEO of a club he absolutely has to know that … and whilst I am reluctant to say that he walked into that room and told those people lies, he’s at the very least being disingenuous, and there is no doubt at all that ruling it out is reckless and dumb.
In fact, it seems pretty obvious that all he did was indulge in a bit of macho posturing in an effort to turn a defeat into some kind of victory.
But by his own admission we have forced them into a humiliating retreat. To say, at this point “not one more step back” is more than tempting fate; it’s inviting further mortification and another grovelling apology to the people in that room.
Celtic can feel pretty pleased with how this has gone. We’ve won the key battles thus far. We’ve forced them from their “take it or leave it” position and into something they never wanted to do.
We’ve shown that we’re willing to go so far as to defy the governing bodies themselves in order to push this to a resolution on more acceptable terms … and we continue to hold over them the requirement that our safety concerns are met.
We know that not all of our safety concerns can be met. That ground is not a safe place for us to go. The club’s refusal to release a statement damning the supporters who threw objects at our players and staff shows how seriously they take even dangerous situations such as those; do not rule out Celtic expressing further concerns in public and threatening to reject tickets somewhere along the line. We retain that right. We certainly have the power.
And as long as we do, I would not, in their shoes, be talking big and drawing lines in the sand.
The very first thing they did when they cut our allocation was draw a line in the sand, and then little by little retreated back from it and we first crossed it and then drove a whole tank division across, and all they were able to do was run wailing to the SPFL with a demand that we be punished for it. And the result of that was the current settlement, on our terms.
I understand his need to play to the gallery.
But this isn’t over by a long way.
If they believed him when he said that it was, well more fool them … and more fool him too, because when he’s proved wrong he’s going to have to grovel all the harder.
In a few years time they will be begging clubs to bring their fans to liebox.
Celtic should publicly announce we are not accepting any tickets for future matches until they get their house in order.Thats two matches they’ve had glass on park,staff being hit by bottles and coins being thrown and SFA stare at their navels
Until these filthy animals can guarantee the safety of Celtic fans we should not indulge them regarding tickets for their hunhut, lest a serious injury befalls us.
Then, the fur will fly, and all across the world.
This is far too risky considering their past behavioural history…..
..btw…apologies to all beautiful creatures…. but by the term ‘animals’ I only infer the low life scum that inhabits the building known more commonly as the helldome.
HH
it is time for celtic to ask the sfa about the security at this cesspit. bring it out in the open so the gutless press and sevco sky have to report it.
Once the Glasgow polis have arrested and incarcerated all the hate crime element in their loyal support there will be loads of seats on the go. In fact they will be begging us to take more.
Aye right!
Johnny thats never gonnae happen pal the masonic police lifting them the police are just as bad as them dirty bitter scumbags and not all are but most of them are so this hate crime will never work especially at cheating liebrox honest..
John, what do you think “Aye right” meant? It was totally tongue in cheek.
I reckon the Ukraine war, the Palestinian war and WW3 will be resolved and ended before the “Ibrox Ticket War” is sorted.
You have issues then if you hate our board more than you hate them.
And I’ll give you the quick and simple answer to your question; Celtic DOES do a fan forum, regularly, and I wrote about the last meeting.
It’s not often l disagree with you James, but l have to take Michael’s side on this one.
There isn’t a thing he has written that is anywhere near to being untrue,and to your credit and good sense you haven’t pulled him up on any of his points but for you to say he has issues if he hates our board more is really not fair.
For years you have denounced our “enemy within” for the way they have backslided,prevaricated,hidden themselves away when they should have been fighting our corner or just downright lying to the Celtic family.
I can see where Michael is coming from and,in my opinion, it’s borne out of frustration at their inaction and their thinking that the most unfunny quips ever to come from a CEO ‘s mouth ( past AND present) are good enough from men,and l use THAT term loosely,in their positions to suffice when we all know that a more robust stance is required.
Unlike Michael, l read most of your stuff and correct me if l’m wrong but l seem to remember you having a few disparaging words to say on the subject of Nicholson’s knitting club for his invited acolytes and arse lickers around the turn of the year !
I have said it before and l will say it again, l have a gruding,not respect, but acceptance of the way their board man the barricades on matters that they hold important.
I know half,if not more than often, they act like complete loonballs but that seems a better option to me than our bunch of lily livered 5th columnists hiding up the back of the bus acting like they don’t have the feckin bus fare.
Dundee nil – huns nil…. That’ll do nicely:-) HH