From Barrowfield to Bayern – Food for Thought Celtic

From Barrowfield to Bayern – Food for Thought Celtic by BhrambleJelly

Earlier this season I wrote a piece on Etims bemoaning the Customer Service aspect of being a paid up supporter of the club and suggesting a few areas where the club could improve and ideas that could help to increase both matchday and non matchday revenue around the club.

I have subsequently held discussions with club management and am delighted to report that they are fully aware of the types of issues that supporters have been talking about long and weary; better food and entertainment facilities, greater benefits for buying a season ticket, pricing, value for money and on pitch entertainment. To underline their interest in these matters, and an absolute coincidence, about a week or so after my meeting a questionnaire exercise commenced involving all season ticket holders. I hope everyone responded.

My specific issue of discontent wasn’t fully resolved to my satisfaction but I can say with some confidence that everything else is on the table and being actively discussed; value for money of season ticket, benefits associated with being a season ticket holder, catering facilities, improvement to facilities in the Celtic Park “footprint”, interactive media / wi-fi facilities amongst others are on the “to do” list. I was left with no reason to doubt the genuine desire of PL & the Board to address these issues.

The biggest challenge for the club seems to be the widespread tightening of wallets and purses. Season Ticket numbers held up very well (more than 42,000 full price tickets paid) but it is also clear that a number of people are picking and choosing the games they go to. When the price of food, travel, matchday programme / fanzine, visit to shop etc. are all factored in then this is not a huge surprise. The club has the money from the ST holders but is suffering from a lack of matchday income. Thankfully the Champions League run removes the sting that would have been felt had the team not qualified. For that alone, Neil Lennon must – and should – be the most popular man in the Celtic Boardroom.

In trying to increase the value for ST holders, the club has tried a couple of things; the extra tickets for CL games was a big hit because of the progress the team was making and they also offered 2 free tickets to ST holders for matches around Christmas time. That was an excellent idea and helped to fill some seats even if it meant we took a hit on matchday income from the loss of 4-5k individual ticket purchasers. A recent podcast on Etims mentioned the sad lack of a half season ticket – I didn’t ask about that but surely Christmas is a great time to sell any seats for the remainder of the season and a great opportunity to get people into the habit of going to Celtic Park. Definitely one for the club to reconsider.

Also, the many empty seats at the Dundee game at the weekend illustrated again the madness of whole kids season ticket fiasco from the summer. The club was in a corner – they couldn’t offer reduced prices to the £50 kids ticket holders without again upsetting those us is who had paid £120 for a kids ticket. Thankfully the additional SKY money would have covered much of any shortfall but the wide open spaces also told those a story to those at the match and those at home.

During the course of this season though I have gone to see a couple of EPL games involving Arsenal and Chelsea. Both games were at Wigan and I paid a combined c£35 for my son and I to see each game. In fact, for four of us (myself, 2 boys and Buzz the Bluenose we paid c£70 on each occasion). One was the first game of the season when Chelsea kicked off as European Champions and then in December, we popped down again to see Arsenal play Wigan. I struggle to watch non Celtic games on tv and found that I suffer the same utter lack of interest on the rare occasions that I attend non Celtic games too!

However, it was an interesting option particularly as I no longer attend Celtic away games (I used to go home and away until some Cop Sergeant barked a spittle soaked “show me your ticket – turn it round when I tell you” into my Dads face about 10 years ago while we were heading into that cauldron of hatred and violence, er, Firhill) and I decided that the then (!!) growing, aggressive police presence was not worth the hassle and that I would prefer not to be jostled, corralled and generally treated like a criminal so, with a family on the way and money getting tighter, I gave up away games. I did go to Killie towards the end of the season before last and found the cops were absolutely fine but it taking 28 minutes into the game before a Celtic song was sung was enough for me to decide that I didn’t particularly want to spend half my Saturday afternoons listening to various dirges not remotely linked to Celtic or Scottish Football or even this century.

Anyway, I digress but before I get back on track I’d say that the first noticeable thing about going to the Wigan games versus the London clubs was the total relaxation of the stewards and police. There was loads of security but it was discreet and friendly. On both occasions we parked with the away fans and there was no nonsense of keeping us back until the home fans had gone. Both times we were back on the M6 heading north within 45 mins of the final whistle.

We took our seats early for the Chelsea game and expected a wall of noise (bearing in mind this was the first game of the new season and Wigan were coming into the game on the back of a fabulous winning streak at the end of the previous season and Chelsea had just won the Big Cup). Er, not quite. The Wigan fans seemed to stay below the stands having a very sociable pint of Best while the players did the last minute warm ups. Certainly there was polite applause for the teams taking to the field and the Chelsea end was packed and loud throughout the game. No singing mind you, just kind of guttural chanting. The Wigan fans didn’t really sing at all although they did attempt a little number for Maloney. You might have thought that selling beer at a game would help loosen tongues and build the atmosphere but no, even Buzz the Bluenose would have welcomed an Irish dirge by the time half time came and went. Not even a “heid, heid, heid” as Big Gaz pointed and squinty heidered his way through the game.

Returning in December to see the “mighty” Arsenal and hoping for a better game, we chose seats in the home section of the ground that had been the noisiest at the Chelsea game. Cue virtually no singing from either set of fans but slightly less guttural chanting from the away end and more chatting in the home end. The Arsenal fans did have one incredibly boring song for Carzola but both occasions were utterly lacking in passion, noise and drama.

Again a cool beer in the stadium before the game was very welcome but, while the kids loved it, the overall experience did leave me pining for Parkhead (and, to be fair to him, Buzz the Bluenose was pining for Poundland too).

Roll on January and I was in Munich for the weekend. In the city centre before the game the beer houses were full of Bayern fans and some team called Greuther Furth who wear green & white hoops. Top versus bottom in the league and a total sell-out apparently so our initial plan was to stay in the pub for the afternoon. A couple of the ridiculously large beer steins later and a few of us thought it would be worth getting out into the snow and heading to the game to see if we could get tickets.

The centre of Munich was a throng of supporters, security at all pubs etc. but while they looked mean as hell, they treated everyone with a smile or at very least, courtesy. We asked about for tickets but were told to head to the ground and hope for the best. So we jumped on a train full of supporters of both teams, some actually drinking beer from bottles on the train without a riot taking place, and went all the way to the out of town stadium train station. No ticket checks required as the cost of transport is included in the cost of the ticket.

We arrived at the station and managed to buy 5 tickets for face value. No idea where the famed €10 tickets were but mine cost €50 for a seat in the top tier. We again trudged through the snow towards the ground. That brought back memories of that hollowed out black ash walkway from the Celtic End to the Gallowgate, crushed like a tinned sardine. Lots of parking etc. available too but most notable was the spectacular stadium ahead in the distance.

A five minute walk took us there and then the really great idea from a club income point of view….if you want to buy something at the ground you had to buy a pre-paid chargecard. So I stuck €30 on the card to cover costs at the game. That was €30 that Bayern now had that I couldn’t recover if I didn’t spend it. You could top it up on payday and just let the balance run down over the coming weeks. A smart way of making the most of the Bayern Euro!

At the turnstiles all bags were searched but the policing and stewarding was both high profile and very relaxed. Nothing like the video pictures of the attempted entry to section 111 last week.

The pre-paid card could be used at the club shop kiosks, the food kiosks or the bars around the ground. We got beers and found our seats. The novelty of sitting at the ground in sub zero temperatures drinking ice cold beer quickly wore off until pint 3 when it started to feel a much better idea again. All around us were groups of families, groups of mates, boyfriends and girlfriends etc. all there to watch the football and have a beer, have a smoke if that’s your thing and all were getting really involved in the singing and shouting.

This was a top versus bottom league game and to be honest the game was pretty average. It was like a Celtic home game versus any of the bottom sides in Scotland; one team having virtually all the possession while the other tries to defend and sneak a point. The key difference was in the atmosphere in the ground. They had their own Ultras standing section behind the goals – the tunes and actions were very reminiscent of the Green Brigade, even to the “echo” singing between both ends – and these fans were the conductors and background music for the whole stadium. They were brilliant. I’ve no idea if any their songs were “political” but they certainly seemed to have most people joining in. One thing I found out was that the T Mobile sign that you can see at Bayern home games in the stand is actually a group of people dressed head to toe in white outfits. Weird, but it looks great for the sponsors on tv.

The half time scramble for a beer was as chaotic as it is for a Bovril at CP except because there was no cash involved (the pre-paid card was swiped) it seemed to be a bit quicker and more efficient. Although we were on the third, the top, tier we decided to stand at the very back and watch the second half. Greuther fans on our left, Bayern fans on our right, a pint in our hands. Something like 70,000 people there. No one bothered us. Magic.

Ok, the game was average but the point was that the fans who wanted to stand stood, those who wanted to sit, sat. The fans who wanted to jump about and enjoy some “lateral movement” moved laterally. If you wanted a beer, have one. A ciggie, smoke away. A hot mulled wine and a pretzel…eh, ok, you’re pushing it but you get my drift. The overriding experience of going to the game was that all fans were welcomed and treated as if they were out for some enjoyment.

This was football as family entertainment in its purest form. A sport and an occasion for all. I saw plenty of families, plenty of mates going along and certainly a few rockets too. A singing section that was free to build the atmosphere and a support who were free to get involved. It wasn’t perfect and going to the football doesn’t have to be. But it was a Saturday afternoon at the fitba, it was easy to get there, it was enjoyable and it was supposed to be enjoyable. Surely that’s not too much to ask from everyone involved in Scottish Football?

by Bhramblejelly ( You can follow Bhramblejelly on twitter @Bhramblejelly)