Reaction to good or awful decision(with poll)

Ĺ

Aye there always be there end if we are not taking the tickets I won't be going purely because I trust the board obviously I would like to go but just don't think anyone will be safe as every Celtic fan will want to stat until the end but then they could be waiting for us to leave and just start attacking anyone on there own or anyone drunk and I just can't see us not getting blamed for them causing trouble bur I will be at the second leg 100% and first leg if possible

 

Top post! I can see us going a few goals up, and them bitter Huns getting the game abandoned as they
totally lose the plot.

 

Don't agree with it.Celtic supporters in 6 counties won't get chance to go now.

 

I've given it a lot of thought and read the posts on the topic and I don't agree with either option in the poll: I think it's the wrong decision; but I don't think it's a disgrace.

The board are doing what they always do... what they are payed to do: protect the club's assets. Like it or not, from the point of view of business people, that's what out reputation is, and intangible asset (if you doubt that, think how their otherwise bizarrely schizophrenic attitude towards the GB makes perfect sense when you see them as business people thinking like business people).

It's the wrong decision because it really hasn't been demonstrated that this will keep our fans safer (on the one hand presumably fewer fans will go, but on the other now the segregation is not going to be there). It's the wrong decision because even if it were about safety (which it obviously isn't), Celtic fans over 18 should be allowed to make their own decisions. It's the wrong decision because our fans over there are going to miss out on what should have been a unique experience. It's the wrong decision because if Celtic fans want to have a 90 minute "reb fest" complete with flares and political banners, etc. against that mob (which is what the board probably fear), they have every right IMO.

It's not a disgrace, though. The board are always trying to "sell" us as a club and in addition I would be amazed if they're not still trying to get us into the EPL. This kind of thing could set that back years. You can see their point of view.

IMO if you are happy with us being a PLC rather than fan controlled, you don't really have any logically consistent grounds to complain about this kind of decision: it's like planting roses because you like flowers and then complaining that your garden is full of thorns.

 

The North Stand will be for neutral fans Linfield fans will advised to purchase tickets for the normal home areas

 

I was born in Belfast during the fighting, so I will just say this, I hate to see Celtic turn down these tickets and rob our Belfast supporters of being able to see our bhoys in person, the least the can do is try do get tickets out to all our supporters who would have been at the game at windsor tickets to the Game and Celtic Park, and set them up with free accommodation and etc. That being said I don't want to see or hear about anyone being badly hurt or losing their life, weather they are a Celtic supporter or a Lisburn one, if UEFA had any since they would have move the Belfast match to a neutral sight, say Drogheda or something I don't know, just keep the game out of the North, or at least Belfast, around the 12th, so again while I don't like it at the end of the day I would much rather have everyone going home to their families alive and unhurt

 

32*

 

The board should tell UEFA that the fans safety is at risk and to move the game if Linfield get through their tie. They can cite the sectarian issue and tell UEFA that they would be the ones held responsible if any fan is injured due to their negligence on allowing the game to proceed in Belfast on the date that has been agreed considering they have certain rules regarding areas of conflict.

 

In that case they really should have pushed for the game to be played elsewhere I'm not convinced the boards actions haven't made violence more rather than less likely.

Are they banking on the fact they have refused tickets will mean any violence won't have any affect on their "Celtic brand" ? Reputation wise if there is violence that will not be the case. What view UEFA will take on any violence I don't know.

 

As @Random Review has said this is asymptomatic of business people and a PLC model controlling the club not fans.

No away support will be * for THE TEAM first and foremost but its also a sign of how much Republican's and people identifying with Irish identity are willing to cave into unionist demands for a modicum of respectability and to almost be perceived as co-operative.

We should have been allowed tickets, behaved appropriately and that would have been a greater anti-sectarian message and displayed the sensibility and respectability of our fan base far better.

UEFA/FIFA are happy as @StPauli1916 implied to accommodate corruption and all other murky parts of world football (including racism) and allow fans to travel - including in Russia (thats without the doping scandal) so I can't see why we caved in on this.

 

As long as fans accept it ....it will continue to happen.When all is said and done as long as season tickets are bought and people turn up to watch matches the board will continue to act this way.

 

There's a lot of people on here using this as an excuse to criticise the board, some are going OTT. It's a difficult decision for them to make, I'm sure everyone can see the reasoning behind it. Some seem to think that the board are shitebags and trying to work it up the supporters in some way which, in my opinion, is *. Celtic fans travelling in thousands to Belfast right in the middle of their bigot fest has disaster written all over it.

What I think the board should be doing is being more vociferous in highlighting the unacceptable issues going on in Belfast at this time of year,possibly to Uefa, the national and international media (and anyone else) exposing the bigoted mentality of these twats and the dangers posed to Celtic supporters.

 

I don't think it has much to do with violence, mate. Our away fans have a lot of experience going to hostile places and they know how to stick together and look after each other, plus many of our fans are locals, so everybody is clued up about exactly where they can and can't go and what routes to take. Nor are they Huns that are going to go an a rampage. The board must know that.

I would imagine that it may have do with behaviour inside the stadium: possibly some fighting (my guess is there will probably still be some fighting if they really have opened the North Stand to "neutrals", i.e. for all practical purposes Celtic fans and precisely those Linfield fans who are looking for a fight), much more likely it has to do with political songs and banners, possibly flares. I think that would almost inevitably have happened and given the context of a game in Belfast and the number of complaints they would have got from official sources, UEFA would have come down hard on us and (from the board's point of view) it would have caused a lot of damage to our reputation.

Of course, I'm with you: me personally, a team like Linfield, far from seeing it as tarnishing our reputation, I'd have loved to see our fans get it right up them with songs and banners for 90 minutes while their team got dismantled on the pitch and, frankly, I know our fans would have surpassed themselves in that regard; but I'm not going to sit here and call our board a disgrace for doing their job.

 

Celtic could fill the section purely with fans located in Belfast, not ideal by any stretch but the fact of the matter is we shouldn't have to pander to bigots and we haven't done in the past. On top of that not having a ticket to the game has never stopped Celtic fans traveling anywhere, might of reduced the number traveling from further afield but there's already two buses going from Govan and I'd say a few more from elsewhere not having an allocated section will turn this from a hostile game to a full blown riot - by trying to protect fans(supposedly) they are further jeopardising those that do wish to support there team

 

You're a good *, and I love ya dearly.....but this is utter nonsense.

If the PLC/board were so concerned about reputation, they'd have refused tickets for the next away game after the last UEFA fine was dished out for fan behaviour.

We all know this about potentially "saving face" and the PLC/board have ONCE AGAIN * over the fans by not allowing the life blood of this club - the ones who pay thousands of pounds each year to travel and support the team on the park to do what they do best, and to do what they have the * RIGHT to do, go and support the team.

As stated above, if they really gave a flying * about the supporters and common Celtic fan, they'd have pushed for a relocation to a neutral venue.

I'm not one for shouting about boycotting, but I really hope to * that there is an extremely poor turnout of support for the reverse fixture at Celtic Park (if indeed we actually face these mutants).

 

Bang on, if the PSNI and the club hosting the fixture cannot guarantee the safety of our fans because of a bigot fest then it should have been moved, the club are covering their * here it's nothing to do with protecting our reputation.

 

I feel sorry for the Belfast based Celtic supporters and the general travelling Celtic support that the board has made this decision but this is not the fault of the board. This is the fault of these bigots and the authorities that allow this marching * to continue on our streets in the 21st century.

Celtic should make a big deal of it, get some Europe wide coverage and expose these f##kers for what they are.

 

This.

Same old posters who pipe up with the same old sensationalist bullshit every time the board makes a decision they don't agree with. There are people shouting we need to over throw them ffs sit down

 

It's on the season ticket so even if there is a poor turnout the board won't care

 

Totally agree.

It does seem that some are determined to criticise the board at any given opportunity and are using this as a stick to beat them with. (and, sorry for the name check, but @ScouseHoops brining into it Republicanism bowing down to Loyalism at the expense of Irish identity is ludicrously far-fetched and reading far, far too much into the situation)

The only way fans would have had any degree of safety would be a "bubble fixture" but would anyone be willing to take the risk of escorted coaches clearly standing out and where would they be escorted from?

I agree with the sentiments that an alternative, neutral ground could have been found but if you read the local newspaper reports in the aftermath of the Shelbourne vs Rangers match in 1998 you wouldn't want to subject any community to such scenes.

It's not the first ever fixture where away fans will be banned and it won't be the last.