CELTIC TITLE PARTY: FAN GROUPS DECLARE “WE WILL NOT BE MASTERED”
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
On the eve of Celtic’s trophy day celebrations, fan groups have responded to Glasgow City Council.
In an ill-timed and frankly insulting statement on Thursday, Glasgow City Council demanded that fans “respect the city” and don’t gather in the Trongate are as planned.
Suffice to say, the response, from the Celtic fan collective known as North Curve Celtic was robust and direct.
Celtic Title Party: Fan Statement Calls Out Club, Police and Council
The statement opened with a thanks and acknowledgment of support from the wider fanbase, regardless of how they may feel about Ultra fan culture or the Celtic Title Party plan.
It began: "We would like to thank all the Celtic support for your continued backing. Your moral and financial support sustains the Celtic Ultras scene.”
The statement also acknowledges the challenge faced by all fans in “a cost-of-living crisis” and the “crippling costs of following Celtic”.
The second part is a clear, and I believe warranted, shot at Celtic themselves for the increased season ticket costs, increasing frequency of new shirt releases, and an overall pricing structure that seems, at best, utterly tone deaf to the financial realities facing many fans today.
The statement also calls out Celtic’s lack of action in terms of fan engagement. It added:
"Over recent months, we have liaised with ultras groups across Scotland in a bid to achieve a fairer deal for all fans.
“We have learned that while Celtic comfortably leads Scottish football on the park, off the park - in relation to fan engagement - Celtic trails the rest”.
Again, a harsh, but ultimately accurate, indictment of the current state of relations between fan groups and the Celtic Board.
The North Curve statement also underscores the fact that Celtic’s inaction in terms of fan engagement doesn’t just damage the fans, it damages the image of the club too, as false narratives are established in the media and allowed to go unchallenged by the board.
It cites Celtic’s consistent inability, or perhaps unwillingness to engage productively with fan groups particularly with regards to “communications on any fan issue - which typically feed into a derogatory narrative on Celtic or football fans generally.”
Which brings us finally to the main point of the statement: Glasgow City Council and their “ignore it and hope it goes away” approach to fan requests for dialogue on the Celtic Title Party celebrations.
It is perhaps the final two paragraphs of the North Curve Statement that hit the hardest, and will probably garner the most headlines.
The Statement concluded:
“The 'Trongate Title Party' is another example of police, authorities and football clubs disregarding the role and importance of fans.
“Despite several months’ notice, there was no will to engage with fans on this issue. There is no framework, culture nor will to engage with fans on any issue.
It closes out with a final, defiant statement of intent and a call for all fans to follow suit:
"As another long and expensive season draws to a close, we encourage fans to celebrate in a fashion they deem fit; irrespective of any intimidation or castigation from those who already look down on us."
It’s hard to argue with any of that really. Both the police and Glasgow City Council have indeed had months to plan this, and they chose to ignore it. They chose to not engage with Celtic fans in any meaningful way.
They chose aggressive, condescending statements instead of dialogue. They chose to allow an Orange Walk to go through the same area on the same day.
If anything goes wrong today, it will be entirely because of those poor choices.