Celtic Board Impose Stadium Shut Down

Celtic’s war of attrition against the club’s 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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