Celtic’s war of attrition against their own supporters moved up a notch on Friday night.
Fans turning up for the Falkirk cup tie had a fully segregated Celtic Park to contend with.
What we were told beforehand would be “concourse ticket checks” turned out to be wave after wave of densely staffed and policed human barriers preventing fans moving around the stadium.
A crude corrugated metal barrier was also spotted in the concourse of the Lisbon Lions stand.
Fancy catching up with a family member in another section before kick off?
Not happening.
In the mood for some food from another outlet three sections down from your seat?
No longer allowed.
Want to pick up a home shirt from the club shop on the concourse along from your allotted seat?
Permission denied.
Of course most football club’s welcome a busy concourse on match days. In fact, stadiums are designed and built nowadays to encourage fans onto the concourse to buy food, drinks and merchandise.
Matchday income has become ever more important to clubs with the introduction of financial fair play in recent years.
The money owners used to funnel into their club has to be found somewhere and its increasingly coming from hiked ticket prices and supplying fans with all they need from within the stadium.
Not so at Celtic Park.
The facilities available for fans at the ground aren’t the greatest, in keeping with how stadiums were designed back in the mid nineties.
But now that choice has been drastically reduced without any consultation with fans as the club seek to further isolate the north curve.
Drastic measures and another nail in the coffin of the “fan experience” at Celtic Park.
We are now being asked to enter through specific turnstiles, only use the toilet nearest your seat (regardless of how busy it is), purchase food only from the closest outlet and then leave out the same door you came in.
And all the while we are being viewed with suspicion and hostility by a small army of stewards and police.
The Celtic Board’s relationship with the supporters has completely broken down, perhaps irreparably so.
The attitude towards the fans comes from the top and filters down through the staff working at Celtic Park.
Spending a fiver in Lidl would illicit a better customer service experience than handing £700 over to Celtic every season.
The cost of these extra measures can only be guessed at.
What we do know for sure is the Celtic board are currently sitting on around £80 million of the supporters money.
And they are clearly reluctant to let any of it go to replace Kyogo or Kuhn, not to mention actually improving on last seasons team and kicking on in this seasons Champions League.
And yet they have no qualms about spending extra cash on providing more stewards and police on match day to restrict the fans ability to move around the stadium and spend money.
And there is the problem with the current Celtic board – a complete lack of accountability.
They feel free to do whatever they want while keeping completely silent.
Who decided to restrict the fans to a narrow section of the stadium?
Is it the same person who decided the players identified by the football department are not worth pursuing?
Are the club considering upgrading the main stand with the piles of cash they are sitting on?
Why is it all managerial appointments and discussions about player budgets involve a “a phone call with Dermot”.
The answer of course is – we don’t know, and are never likely to know.
The powers that be at Celtic have bunkered down, all channels of communication are switched off, and that means fans are left completely in the dark, guessing at what’s coming next.
Whatever they have planned, assuming of course that there is a plan, you can be certain we wont be consulted and we wont know how the decisions are made and who made them.
Fans treated with no dignity and like criminals. Whats next a full body search when entering the ground. It actually creates an unsafe environment for fans and the stewards. Sort it oot Celtic!!
— Rikki Allen (@RikkiAllen7) August 17, 2025
The fans of course will continue to turn up to support the team as always.
But how well resourced that team is will be decided in secret.
As will what toilets the fans can use, what food they are allowed to buy and who they can meet and chat to at the ground.
There must come a breaking point at some stage in this stand off. This complete lack of information from on high cannot continue, especially when ridiculous decisions such as segregating our own support within our home stadium are being made.
On a brighter note it was heartening to see Kieran Tierney hand his shirt over to the Green Brigade at the end of the match on Friday night. Now there’s a guy who clearly recognises real Celtic fans when he sees and hears them.
I left my ticket in my partners handbag . Went to the toilet tried to get back to my seat but wouldn’t let me passed unless I showed my ticket. Is that why we pay over 650 a season ticket for ? @CelticFC @CelticFCSLO pic.twitter.com/a3B9lRScbT
— Hugh lynch 🇲🇨🏐⚪️🔴☘️🇮🇪🍀⚽️ (@Hughbhoy) August 16, 2025
Here’s a quote from one of several messages we received from listeners ⬇️
“Stewards seemed to be instructed at the half way line cordon to let no-one through regardless of ticket. The direction I was given was to ‘go round’ which in a broader context means absolutely nothing.”
— The Cynic (@90MinuteCynic) August 16, 2025
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17 Comments
by Paul Murphy
The stewards are standing they, WANTING!!! confrontation. The majority of fans just accept anything! In the high heid yins, know and will CONTINUE to exploit this.
by Paul Revere CSC
Maybe checking to see if people aren’t using concession tickets. Given amt of abuse of those I think that’s fair enough.
by Editor
You don’t need huge metal barriers to do that.
by Caelan
Unless you are female and sit in 112, you are not allowed to go to your nearest toilets, you need to go to one in a different section entirely.
by Glover
Not my experience of the board, at least 3 including the CEO turn up at our supporters club annual dance. Last year they spent over 4 hours and were available for supporters to talk to. There is obviously licence conditions that need to be met, but I doubt that any of that would make such a biased article.
by Mac
A CLUB LIKE No OTHER , definitely,but not for the fans
by Pat McGinley
The fans keep taking it, so why are you all complaining ???
by Brendan McHugh
Hi Glover
Given that the story is my experience of Friday night, of course it is biased, as are my opinions.
I am glad you have better experience of the board, don’t you think the whole support would benefit from hearing from them in the way you did?
And I’m sure everyone would love to hear their response to the issues raised above.
Thanks
by Sam McEwan
Seen these sort of Draconian measures coming for a number of years I was a Parent/child season ticket holder at Paradise for many years way before Wim stopped the 10 even though I live in Essex and didn’t get to many games I supported the team the only way I could even through Covid I still bought my tickets even though fans couldn’t attend my season ticket was always on standing order but when fans where allowed back they cancelled and didn’t have the decency to let me know by the time I found out my tickets where gone and I couldn’t get them back.
I’ve not been to a game since the board treat the fans as a cash cow and have lost all connection with the support and behave in the same way most corporate companies do these days its become standard practice to have no accountability still love my team always will but can’t abide the way the board have complete contempt for the real life blood of the club as the great man once said “football without fans is nothing” unfortunately if they could sell the game without fans they would they’d just create the atmosphere using some AI technology.
by Brendan McHugh
Shocking treatment Sam.
And way too common, where the club actually hampers fans attachment to the team.
by Tony
This is pish but can we stop pretending that the green brigade etc hasn’t brought this on themselves & us.. I’m not defending our board cos only time I’m interested in whose on our board is when c–ts like the Kelly’s and whites are running our club into the ground and obviously we aren’t successful because of their ineptitude or greed.
The green brigade, North curve, or whatever their official letter heading says on it 😂think they should run Celtic , want all their demands met, yep even the illegal ones like pyrotechnics & believe that all their fellow Celtic fans political and religious beliefs should be the same as their..
I reckon their as fascist in their actions as the people they profess to fight against..Hail hail 🍀💚
by Brendan McHugh
Hi Tony
I don’t think anyone could ever claim the Green Brigade are without fault.
I’m not a member of the Green Brigade and certainly don’t speak on their behalf.
It is the nature of Ultras groups to push the envelope, that’s what they do. Usually the club responds, and a middle ground is reached.
It is my understanding that Celtic have not spoken to the Green Brigade in nearly two years.
Like it or not, the Ultra scene is proving very popular in Scotland, especially at Celtic. It’s how a large number of young supporters want to watch their team.
Surely it is best to recognise that fact, embrace it, and work to find an accommodation?
Thanks
by Jim McEwan
I can’t comment on the restrictions I wasn’t there but I’ve had a season ticket for over 30 years, prior to which you didn’t need one. I started supporting the club in 1963, home and away for years. I stopped attending matches because of the behaviour of a large section of our away fans, typically young drugged up hooligans. We didn’t have a green brigade in the Lisbon Lion years and were all the better for it, much less fines. If these restrict measures are a required response to the GB then it’s unfair for the majority to suffer, just cancel their damn tickets.
That said I thoroughly condemn the Board’s incompetence in handling the transfer window and despite protestations to the contrary this has all the hallmarks of that Pennywise pound foolish idiot Lawwell. I am very uneasy about this CL qualifier and if we crash out I think Lawwell and Nicholson should be sacked . I’ve been a staunch supporter of Desmond and I’m disappointed that he’s allowed this idiocy to arise. Perhaps you’ve run your course Dermott and should sell up to someone who’ll fix this nonsense.
by Eric Allen
Green Brigade cost the club lots of money in fines because of their “superior” attitude. They’re followed by some silly wee boys who know nothing of the origins of the club and why it was founded but they just want to follow like sheep. . I was at an away game at Kilmarnock some years back and a daft young lad, who’d had a sniff of the cork, was yelling non stop at some players, telling them they’re not fit to wear the jersey but he hardly saw the game, just kept looking round to see if everyone thought how clever he was. Why do some people need to walk about during a couple of hours or so visit to the club? I’m sure they can watch a film at the cinema or survive a flight of that duration or more, apart from a toilet visit, without having to go and speak to friends. Just meet them before or after the game. Health and safety comes first.
by Clare burke
I have never been to a football match but I am very proud of celtic fans for supporting humanitarian causes when many others buckle under the huge pressure to be silent. It’s great to see the Green brigade put on their displays celtic should support them.
by Suzy
They did all that with the barriers for safety etc but put us at risk on Friday night by letting the Falkirk fans out the exact same time as us to cause trouble in amongst our fans, police running around like headless chickens trying to control things? Who’s bright idea was it to put our fans at risk in this way.
by Charlie
Time for a boycott as board not listening and are a dictatorship ..Its a hobby to Desmond and he is only a share holder like a lot of us . Fans do not have say that makes any difference if listened to at all.. Its painfull but not a lot of options left so a few boycotts are required to get them to listen and also let the people know the future plans for the club