Where Are The Fans?

We might not have been challenging for the title but we were still in a competitive league and we didnt know exactly where we would finish. Which is more exciting than now when we know we will finish top.

Although after saying that, most of the people that moan about competitivness on here are the same people that have mental breakdowns when we drop a few points or dont win by a 4 goal margin.

 

So, unless I'm mistaken, people want some competition but not too much competition? It's not interesting winning it too easily but it's also not interesting being * such as the last 4 months of the Mowbray season - we just need to find a balance? I'm confused to be honest - on one hand people aren't happy selling our best players, not signing a capable striker etc and drawing at home to Dundee Utd isn't good enough - demanding the team be improved. Yet, at the same time, they are also bemoaning the fact we are strolling to league titles with little competition and that makes it boring. We demand improvement then moan when we see the fruits of said improvement.

I was speaking to my granda recently on this kind of issue. He spoke to me about how gutted and apathetic he was at losing the 1963 Cup Final replay to Rangers, ready to give up on the team. Within 4 years we'd won the European Cup and went through our most successful period in our history. He watched us win the European Cup and was in Milan to see us lose another. He also then spoke about the 90s - discussing how he would be going to games hoping we could manage a draw! What a contrast! Finishing 4th, 5th etc in the league, winning no trophies and a board in place that were not fit for purpose. It culminated in the club being hours away from going under in 1994. Then he spoke about how brilliant it was watching the team under Burns yet, ultimately, it hurt like * when we still lost the leagues. Fast forward to now and look at the landscape of Scottish Football. Rangers have died and reformed as a new entity, playing football in the lower leagues of Scotland. Our hated rivals are no more, we won the war in that regard. We are now winning leagues successively, as well domestic competitions. Not only that, we are holding our own in Europe. We made the last 16 last season with one of the lowest budgets in the whole competition - we beat Barcelona at home! We've now got a more than decent chance of European post-Christmas whilst watching our team get to play at the Camp Nou, the San Siro and the Amsterdam Arena. My granda's point to me was that we should be * grateful that we even exist. We nearly went the way Rangers went last year. Highs and lows are part of being a Celtic fan and this, the period we are experiencing right now, is probably one of the biggest highs we've ever had, only behind the Jock Stein or Willie Maley era. The fans should appreciate every good moment as a Celtic fan - even if that is winning league titles with little competition - because, one day in the future, our gripe will be aimed at our lack of success again.

The fans have been spoiled - spoiled by the O'Neill era mainly, but also the Strachan era too. Go slightly further back to the majority of the 90s and tell the fans of that period of how it would be right now and they'd bite your hand off for that. Celtic isn't about anyone else, it's about enjoying our successes and never forgetting the bad moments either. Everything should be put in context. The fans bemoaning lack of competition - fine that's up to them. Personally, I feel we should take full advantage of the situation we find ourselves in and just * enjoy it without bickering over whether it would be better if we had more competition etc.

Debates like this would, probably, not even be a big deal if Fergus had built a 40k capacity stadium - the groans at attendances are because of a couple of reasons - people were spoiled by the O'Neill era and the high attendances of that time and the stadium looks a lot emptier mainly because of the sheer size of it. 40k-odd per week is an excellent attendance. I just can't fathom that people don't care about how Celtic do because the other teams are doing even worse - even more baffling when you see people saying they don't care about league results at all. Strange mindset for a fan. Being up in Dingwall towards the end of last season and losing in the last minute having been 2 goals up - everyone in attendance, including myself, were livid! I don't buy into the notion that people don't care anymore. The attendances are genuinely not much different from the level they were 5 years ago. Look back at season 2010/11 - watch the home games between November and February of that season - it's no different in terms of attendance to how it is now. It happens at this time of year.

I think people really do need to put things into context. The attendances have fallen for quite a few years now - roughly the same number of years that we have seen the economy in decline. Just last week we seen mass collections of food, a basic human need, because some people in Glasgow can't even afford to feed themselves or their children. Football is growing more expensive in a declining economy. This has seen attendances drop, regardless of the competitiveness of the league.

 

Great post CelticFC1967.

 

Aye, agreed. Cracking post mate

 

"Where are the fans"

Up yer *

 

I will.

The anticipation is killin' me. They'll be back for the 2015/16 SPFL season ... and by that time we'll be halfway to 10 in a row.

It'll be epic.

I really, truly have no idea how they're going to stay afloat, but whatever.

 

Oh dear .. staff members trolling. :smiley-laughing002:

I feel your anger though. :icon_mrgreen:

 

Could add so much more, but pretty much exactly how I feel.

Current generation are spoiled, I can remember going to games in 1993 when we had 10,000 at the game and were lucky to finish above 5th.

 

We only had attendance of 10k because of the bhoycott though, we still averaged around 25/30k even during the truly dire period between 90-94.

 

Rangers at the moment

 

Top post CelticFC

Agree with everything you say apart from the attendance now being similar to 2010-11. Attendances now have dipped significantly since then, the gaps in the JS & LL are so much more noticeable now. We're probably averaging around 6-7,000 less than we were in 10/11 (hard to tell with the exaggerated figures Celtic provide). I believe the lack of a challenger is a big reason for that, not just about finance. If it wasn't for the £100 reduction the attendances would be embarrassing this season (for the size of stadium we've got), Lawwell knew that.

 

Perhaps the years before, but 1993-94 there is no way we averaged that. That season was a proper watershed.

Admittedly the 'Sack The Board' stuff was a factor, but even before it all really kicked off that year, we were struggling to make 20K at home games.

I remember the main stand and the newly-seated jungle were always half full at best, the 'Celtic End' was the only place with a decent support and atmosphere, whilst I would never go back to that, a wee part of me does miss that old terracing. :icon_mrgreen:

 

:smiley-laughing002:

 

Good post 1967.

I have pulled out the two parts above as I think this is what people disagree about.

Personally I just want competition. Problem is as you say, that either means celtic getting worse (which you cannot possibly want as a celtic fan) or other teams getting better (which realitsically isnt going to happen). That is the problem with the set up we have and as I say I dont see a fix for it. But fundamentally I see no value in winning something when the set up is so much in your favour that it very hard not to win. And when you are 1/40 to win a league at the start of the season, and you go on to win it, I am just being honest in that I dont see where the excitment is. As Daibhi said earlier, for me the league in its current form is a route into the champions league that we have to play.

As regards your second point, the problem is that I see no highs and lows in the domestic game anymore. Our closest competitors are basically a local team that get a few thousand every week and have a team made up of free transfers from the English conference. We are a global brand PLC that can buy and sell any squad we play against in Scotland multiple times over. The gap is just so wide that I simply cannot see what there is to be excited about. It is an achievement for Celtic as a PLC and as a brand that we created such a gulf, but when no other team can realistically challenge you due to such financial clout, then what is there to get passionate about? The absolute high is pumping a team that is worth less combined than what we spent on one diddy we have out on loan. The absolute low is dropping 3 points but knowing almost 100% that the result is irrelevant by the end of the season.

And none of this is in any way an attack on Celtic or any other club. It is just I think the league set up is broken and the monopoly celtic has is just too large to get excited about. I really wish I could and I would love to have the enthusiasm others have on here. I just dont feel it.

 

People pick and choose what game to attend, I try my best get to 10-15 games a season but it is more difficult now I have a full time job I have to work 2 Saturdays a month, last game I went to was Inverness at home I am looking to go again before Christmas hopefully

 

Its not cheap to go to the football
a trip to park head costs just under £100 for me and thats with a season ticket
£65 bus and boat
£5 Bet
£5 Programme
£20 Food and Drink

 

I really shouldn't
but it just * me off
47,386 at the game for FFS
that more than most european football grounds can hold

 

Fair enough, I'm not really having a go at people for not having the same enthusiasm as others etc - I can't exactly force people to feel a certain way! I also understand the other arguments - the lack of competition may put some off or bore some people. I guess I just love watching Celtic purely for Celtic. I love going to the games with my dad, my granda and my uncle. I love travelling all over just to watch Celtic - it matters not who we are playing really, or where even, it's just something I enjoy. Being with like-minded people that come together to enjoy, and sometimes feel pain, watching Celtic, singing the songs and having banter with people you may never have spoke to in your life before - it's priceless for me. There's nothing else really out there in which you can congregate with thousands of people of a similar background, similar beliefs - be it football, politics or religion - and stand as one to watch your football team. Celtic is definitely unique in that sense - go anywhere in the world and, if you see someone in hoops, you feel an affinity with them purely because they support Celtic! The football itself can take a bit of a back-seat at times - the culture of supporting Celtic and going to the games is unrivaled. I fully understand why some people find it difficult to go and watch the games - the football can be stodgy, the weather can be rotten, the price can be extortionate and the competition may not be there. Personally though, it's just * brilliant being a fan of Celtic, even more so when we are winning! The day will come again in which we may find ourselves knocked off the perch at the top of Scottish football - I say we enjoy what we are achieving for now and make the most of being in this situation. *, at least we still have our club!