Celtic’s Tannadice ticket statement is welcome, but ultimately futile.

Tonight, Celtic have taken the unusual step of releasing a statement on the official site. It’s blunt, straight to the point, and confirms that the club has contacted the SPFL after concerns were raised about the Dundee United game next weekend – the match where we can clinch the SPFL title. I understand why we’ve done it.

About a month ago, I highlighted the Motherwell supporters and their excellent campaigns, and the fan organisation known as the Well Society, which not only runs the club but has also led campaigns across Scottish football for a fairer deal for supporters of every team. I said at the time that they are an excellent model for what fan ownership can look like, because these aren’t just people who talk a good game – they live it.

One of the campaigns they’ve supported over the years is the “Twenty’s Plenty” initiative – a push to get match tickets in Scotland capped at £20 for the most expensive briefs. It’ll never happen, of course. There are too many vested interests in the game here for something so fan?friendly to ever get off the ground. But if it did happen, it would be a tremendous victory for supporters and a shot in the arm for the game, because it would make football affordable again.

No one can seriously claim that modern football is affordable to all.

I’ve watched, with a fair degree of horror, over the past few weeks as Liverpool re?signed two of their star players – Mo Salah and our former centre?back Virgil van Dijk. Salah’s new salary, with bonuses, will see him earn over a million pounds a week, with a base pay of £500,000. Van Dijk just signed a deal worth £400,000 a week.

In order to fund this kind of obscene wage bill, it’s the fans who are left footing the bill. Ticket prices in England are through the roof. And that’s without taking into account the cost of replica shirts, official club merchandise, and the multiple TV packages an average fan now needs just to watch their team regularly – assuming they don’t already have a ticket or can even afford one.

The inflationary spiral in football wages is staggering. And it’s that spiral – along with astronomical transfer fees – that’s pushed the game to the brink. You can trace the whole Super League debacle back to this unsustainable growth in costs. It’s because of this that clubs now feel they must constantly generate more and more money just to keep up. It’s why, despite record revenues, the super?clubs have never been more indebted. At some point, surely, this whole house of cards has to come crashing down.

In some ways, what Dundee United have done to us here is fair. We do charge clubs more to come to Celtic Park than they might pay elsewhere. We charge their fans what we would charge our own to watch the game – but then, they are watching the best team in the country. If you want to see the top team in action – even if they’re playing your side – you expect to pay a premium. When we host Champions League games, we pay more because the quality of the opposition is higher and, occasionally, you get to see genuine global superstars – the £500k?a?week types.

But a 23% price hike for one game? A 23% hike above what we usually pay to watch Celtic at an away ground? That’s not reasonable – that’s price gouging. It’s scandalous. And the timing is blatantly cynical. That match is now a potential title decider. When St Johnstone thought they might be hosting a league decider, they rolled out the red carpet for us – gave us three stands and didn’t significantly hike the price.

Dundee United are entitled to charge whatever they like in their own stadium. But let’s not pretend this isn’t a deeply disturbing move. A deeply greedy one.

A move that seeks to profit off our fans at a time when they already feel increasingly unwelcome at many grounds across the league. And, to give them their due, Dundee United have historically been one of the fairer clubs when it comes to tickets for our supporters – at least until now.

It’s no surprise that Celtic aren’t happy about this. What is surprising is that the club are making more of a song and dance about this than they are about the even more disgraceful situation our fans are facing at Hampden with this digital ticket nonsense being rammed down our throats without a single supporter being consulted.

The club cannot fight on every front, I get that. But I think the Hampden situation is more alarming than this. After all, next weekend’s game – which would have been just another fixture, albeit one that always attracts a strong Celtic support – is now a premium event. It’s not just three points up for grabs anymore.

Still, it leaves a bad taste. And in any association where the rights of fans were anywhere near the top of the priority list – hell, anywhere on the list at all – there would be protections in place against exactly this sort of opportunistic behaviour. At the start of the season, clubs should be required to submit a pricing list – one that cannot be altered except under the most exceptional of circumstances.

Instead, we have a free?for?all. Clubs can set whatever price they want for a fixture, and when it becomes important, they can slap on what’s effectively a dynamic pricing model – where the cost goes up depending on what’s at stake. That’s exactly what Dundee United have decided to do.

This one stinks. And I’m glad the club has said something.

But let’s be honest – under SPFL Rules & Regulations section I26, home clubs have absolute discretion to set admission prices for league matches, with no need to notify or seek approval from the League; only Premiership/Championship play?offs carry Board?mandated minimums (Rules C26A & C26B). The only binding obligations are to reserve a reasonable allocation of tickets for away supporters (Rules I27–I28) and to issue tickets in a form that minimises falsification (Rule I29).

Therefore, Dundee United’s 23% price hike, while cynical, sits squarely within the SPFL’s framework – contacting the League is unlikely to force any change. This only underlines the need for real, club?led reform proposals that enshrine supporter rights into the rules, rather than merely registering protests.

We don’t have problems here that can’t be fixed. These issues are not irredeemable. It’s a matter of will – and right now, no one has the will to lead. Unless someone steps up, nothing’s going to change. Dundee United have a right to do what they’ve done because nobody’s ever introduced a rule to stop them.

There is an appetite for reform. The Well Society would back it, and they’re not the only ones. If we’re not supporting reform, it’s because we don’t want to – or don’t know how to lead on it. And frankly, that amounts to the same thing.

I appreciate that the club has made a statement. I appreciate that we’re registering our displeasure. What I don’t appreciate is the sense that we’re appearing to act without any real intention to follow it up. We’ve lodged a protest. But we won’t push for change. And so, ultimately, the protest is as far as it goes.