The safe standing experiment begins tomorrow with the home game against Wolfsburg. i suppose its a lot easier to turn your back on the game if you’re standing up.
Funded entirely by state aid-some will have you believe as soon as they think of it-it all looks quite impressive ;
speaking of funding, and i was only kidding about the state aid thing, Celtic are said to have paid around £500,000 to take some seats out and er, put some rails in.
2,600 seats, in total, which works out at around £192 each. How do companies get these tenders, and how do they justify such expense.
I could have done it myself a lot cheaper, with a van and a bit of graft, and by working a couple of hours over at night, probably done it quicker as well.
In 1990, standing at football matches was banned, in the wake of the Hillsborough tragedy, and its impossible to ignore the big picture here, because all eyes will be on Celtic Park this season, as once again the club sets a precedent in changing the norm.
Always looking to the future and leading the way, if you don’t count the continued use of zero hours contracts for employees… a practice popular in the good old days of child labour, no unions and a life expectancy roughly the same as that of your dog.
Customer Service Operator – Zero Hours – Ticket Office
Purpose
To assist in the day-to-day operations of the Celtic Ticket Office, providing world-class customer service to Celtic supporters and stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide world-class customer service and resolve supporter enquiries through the Ticket Office counter and telephone line.
- Process home match, away match and season ticket sales
- Process payments and follow all daily banking procedures
- Use the provided ticketing system to ensure accurate supporter records are maintained
- Printing, fulfilment and posting of home and away match tickets
- To adhere to the Ticket Office Policies and Procedures at all times
- Assist in any area of Ticket Office operations as requested by the Ticket Office Operations Manager
Desired Skills
- Previous experience in a customer service role
- Previous experience in ticket sales/administration
- Excellent communication and customer service skills
- Able to work individually and as part of a team
- Willing to work flexibly (evening/weekend match days)
- Knowledge of Celtic Football Club
Engagement will be on a zero hours basis to assist with match days and sales as required.
Closing Date: Friday 22nd July 2016
I’m sure they’ll get top notch applicants, who already have a direct line to a foodbank. And when the successful applicant moves on to a proper contract elsewhere, they’ll advertise again, and so on…
All to save a few quid when money is being poured out at an alarming rate in other areas.
Every now and again, I stop and wonder what exactly went wrong with my club, and try to work out when it happened.
When I work it out, and let you know and we can pop down and put things right.
It’s the new managers first game at Celtic Park, and a chance for him to give a run out for the eleven that will attempt to turn around the one goal deficit to the Gibraltan champions, and so there is actually every chance we’ll see a swshbuckling and entertaining game.
Instead of the usual type of anyone who turns up can get a game attitude to friendlies, this one should be used as a trial run for the players who must now think they have a great chance of breaking into the first team.
And staying there.
Players such as Calum MacGregor and Stuart Armstrong should announce their intentions of taking over the central midfield. Patrick roberts and James Forrest -the latter almost certainly now in the last chance saloon could be used as alternating wingers, changing flanks as and when they feel like it, or playing in an advanced central role if the need arises, to offer another creative option. Dembele, Griffitha and Ciftci to fight it out for what will surely be two strinking slots.
And as for the defence, we could even try starting a game with one in place.
The good news is that if you have a season book, its free entry tomorrow. And on Wednesday.
It might be an idea to pop along, not only to support the team, but in case the adventure comes to a shuddering halt…
Theres plenty of talk, some of it verging on screaming, about new players coming in. No doubt they will, but it isn’t going to make any difference in time for the return game, so those charged with the task of prolonging the european adventure by four more games-we aren’t yet in the safety zone of Europa League football-will have to come from those already here.
Thats why tomorrows friendly takes on a little more importance than usually associated with these games.
Those of you who don’t want to spoil the weekend, look away now;
Qarabag (AZE) (2-0) Dudelange (LUX)
Rosenborg (NOR) (3-1) Norrkoping (SWE)
Astana (KAZ) (0-0) Zalgiris Vilnius (LTU)
Astra Giurgiu (ROU) 11.076
Sheriff (MDA) (2-3) Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR)
Crvena zvezda (SRB) (2-1) Valletta (MLT)
Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) 2-0 Alashkert (ARM)
FH Hafnarfjördur (ISL) (1-1) Dundalk (IRL)
Tren?ín (SVK) (4-3) Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN)
Ferencváros (HUNG) (1-1) Partizani* (ALB)
If Celtic overcome the Red Imps on Wednesday, we’ll play the winners of one of those ties, first leg scores in brackets.
And we’ll find out which one later this morning, shortly after 11am. Its live on the UEFA website if you really fancy putting the knackers on your day, or you can wait until tomorrows diary to finish off your weekend.
Out of contract Charlie Mulgrew has been offered a deal at sheffield Wednesday worth around £1m a year, and lets face it, he’s probably already on the train.
He’s not in the new managers plans, or he’d have been signed up by now, and he’s going to get a lot more money in sheffield, so if I were him i’d take it.
He’ll save more money as well, because for a town of its size, there’s very little to do in Sheffield, so he’ll probably stay in most nights, which will no doubt mean a sigh of relief from his kids, who still hate it when daddy drives.
He’s been good for us, and we’ve been good for him.
Best of luck, Charlie, which incidentally is in good supply in Yorkshire, and another reason to stay home most nights.
He won’t be the last out the door, but at least his feet will touch the floor as he leaves.
There may be a sign of who is really in charge of the team later this month, as we hear that Peter Lawwell has told Emilio Izaguirrre he’s going, but manager Rodgers wants to keep him….
Is this to be the battleground that decides who dominates team policy for the forthcoming season ?
Or does someone else ?
Level 5, who plant the feelgood “rangers ” stories, have been quick to plant the feelbad Celtic ones, in the interests of balance.
Level 5 man and former Celtic player and assistant manager Murdo MacLoed has tried to instill a sense of panic in the support;
“There has been a real feelgood factor about the way Ronny Deila left and the way Brenda Rodgers came in All of a sudden there is one competitive game played and the supporters are looking at it and thinking that it is the same old, same old.
“Getting players in to make the difference is imperative now. They need to do it and they need to do it now.”
A knee jerk reaction? Shouldn’t we take our time and get the right players in ?
“There should be no knee-jerk reaction to the result on Tuesday night because it showed up what most people have been able to see over the past few seasons; Celtic need at least three or four good, quality players. Players who can appreciate the demands when you are playing at a high level and trying to get into the UEFA Champions League.
“It is a strange one. It was an awful result but as others have shown before him, you can come out the other end after a terrible start – but he needs to move quickly to get the players in – and other players out – to make the difference. There has been a lot of criticism and a lot of flak which goes with the territory when you are a Celtic manager and you are on the wrong end of a result like that. He has to take it and get on with it.”
So, no knee jerk reaction, just get it done now.
Murdo Macloed is probably the most sensible group of people at Level 5, having mastered the art of reasonable debate with themselves. Or himselves, which probably isn’t a word.
“I feel for Ambrose because, believe it or not, I actually think he is a good player,” he said. “But he seems to make mistakes at critical times in critical games and his confidence is shot now. If Celtic have real and genuine ambitions of getting into the group stages of the Champions League then they need to decide on the players they want and go out and get them. They can then look to rely on a settled defence which helps everyone out.”
There’s little to argue with in what MacLoed says, so its perhaps a good job he does it for us.
Its Friday, and you know what that means….
Knob Of The Week
Yet again, the standard of entries has been commendably high, and yet again its hard to pick a winner.
In fact this week, we’ve seen quite a few who would have won comfortably in other weeks, and yet still one man manages to stand head and shoulders above the rest.
An untimely and possibly even inflammatory post on Facebook re-opened wounds that are still trying to heal, and made a direct association with Celtic and republicanism, and yet Gregory Campbell still didn’t win.
He must be gutted, but you have to say that this weeks winner is Peter Lawwell, or Iain Bankier.
In fact, lets award it to the Celtic board who bravely hid under their table despite this unwarranted slur on the club. Who failed to defend the good name of our club when the moment called for it.
Yet you wait until someone flies a starry plough, or sings the “wrong” song in the new standing section….
So, for the first time in the history of the award, we have a collective effort scooping the trophy.
Well done to the Celtic board, for earning the title-and you can have one each-
Knob Of The Week
Its almost impossible to find a picture of all of them, so here’s a roll of dishonour…
Ian Bankier Chairman (2011-- Tom E. Allison, Senior Independent Director (since 2001)
- Dermot Desmond, Independent Non-Executive Director (since 1995)
- Brian Duffy, Independent Non-Executive Director (since 2010)
- Peter Lawwell, Chief Executive (since 2003)
- Ian Livingston, Independent Non-Executive Director (since 2007)
- Eric Riley, Finance Director (since 1994)
- Brian Wilson, Independent Non-Executive Director (since 2005).
Another great bunch of guys, with only the clubs best interests at heart.
If you don’t count resolution 12, zero hours, a living wage, interference in team matters, and a general disinterest in protecting and enhancing the heritage of the club, the supporters of the club and the good name of the club.
Caption competition time, and yesterdays picture, of what at the time was the worlds smallest shop….
prompted this winning quip following on from an earlier picture in the diary..
Caption;
Andy Murray’s ‘bag man’ – the early years
Today, we step into the past again, because technically, you can’t really step into the future, except very slowly.
