SCOTT BROWN has issued a rallying cry to the Celtic support ahead of the new season and has also talked up the Scottish Premiership insisting it’s as good as most leagues around Europe.
As a little aside, there was a graphic in The Economist this week which showed how the English Premier League has been affected financially by COVID-19 and how they are expected to recover when football gets back to something like normality and the fans are allowed back into the grounds.
Have a look at the graphic below and in particular look at the light blue ‘Broadcasting’ revenues in comparison to the yellow ‘Matchday’ – the Premier League in England could easily survive and thrive with no fans ever, such is the tiny percentage of the revenue total that comes form Matchday income.
Compare and contrast with Celtic where the supporters ‘Matchday’ expenditure is huge, European football revenue is also significant alongside commercial income but the broadcasting money is tiny in comparison with the English clubs in their top division. Many of these clubs are passengers as far as the broadcasters are concerned and maybe one day soon the paymasters of English football will stop and think about what these clubs bring to the table on a global scale in comparison to what for instance Celtic would add to their output around the planet.
Maybe if that happens change would come and if after securing Ten-in-a-Row Celtic were given the opportunity, then many would be in favour of taking it!
The Celtic skipper was back at Paradise on Friday with his manager and Hair for Ten-in-a-Row Jamesy Forrest.
🏆 Our Homegrown Hero, James Forrest has been an integral part of the club’s #9INAROW success.
For Jamesy, the urge to clinch silverware year-after-year only grows with each passing campaign. 🗯️⤵️
— Celtic Football Club (from 🏡) (@CelticFC) June 20, 2020
Celtic Fans got the hint of a return to Paradise for the supporters yesterday with the news that French football is to allow up to 5000 supporters into games from 11 July. Given that the UK has been a few weeks behind the French in messages take around the pandemic then that could indicate that limited numbers could be allowed inside grounds in Scotland earlier in the new season which will start in August.
Celtic of course are entering the last week or so for season ticket renewals. Under normal circumstances these would have already have sold out, a season card for the Ten-in-a-Row charge would have been the hottest ticket in town. But many supporters have concerns over the club’s plans to broadcast home games for supporters to watch at home and meetings have been taking place between the club and various supporters groups to clarify various matters. We’ll have an update on this for you next week on The Celtic Star.
🗣️ "We've missed the fans. We want to get them back as quick as possible and make sure everything's safe."
🗣️ "As soon as fans can get back, and it's safe, it'll be good for everyone."#CelticFC captain @ScottBrown8 & James Forrest can't wait to welcome fans back to Paradise 🍀 pic.twitter.com/P5ziGoVXAH
— Celtic Football Club (from 🏡) (@CelticFC) June 19, 2020
Back to what Broony has been saying about all of this and the manner in which Celtic as a club and the players as a group have been dealing with these most unusual set of circumstances.
“It’s been good seeing some of the lads at different times, and it’s been good getting back into to do what we want to do,” the Celtic captain said, as reported by the club’s website. “We’ve been non-contact, we’ve been doing a lot of running individually and we’ve been able to get a wee touch of the ball as well, so it’s been good!
“Hopefully things are now starting to get back to normal, but just now we’re just making sure we’re doing everything by the book, as we should be. It’s an important season ahead, but there’s pressure on us to win every single game – whether that’s Barcelona, St Mirren or Hearts.
“We’ve always got that pressure and that’s why us as players signed here, we want to win games and win trophies, we want to win every single game. That pressure comes from our fans, they demand to see top-quality standards and proper football, and that’s what we try to do week-in and week-out.
“We just want everyone to get through it, we want the best for Scottish football and we want everyone to be in a good place. All the fans want to come back as well, and we’ll eventually do so safely, with all the boxes ticked.
“Until we do, we need to make sure that we entertain, that we get everything on TV, and show that this league is as good as most leagues in Europe.”
🗣️ "Winning trebles, it doesn’t stop there"
James Forrest on the "massive" season ahead for him with Celtic as they push for 10-in-a-row, and with Scotland as they target qualification for the European Championship ⚽️👇 pic.twitter.com/0X0aWVzypZ
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) June 21, 2020
