Fears that Celtic could have ended up playing Legia Warsaw in the Artur Boruc farewell match on Wednesday in front of a tiny crowd appear to have been eased thanks to a major victory for Legia fan-power which has forced a pricing u-turn by the club in order to ensure that the match is played in-front of a decent sized crowd.
We told you yesterday that Artur Boruc had issued a plea to the usually ultra-loyal Legia fans who were in this instance turning their backs on the 42 year-old goalkeeper’s farewell match due to the high ticket prices being charged.
We also mentioned the fact that Celtic will remain the ‘bad guys’ as many Legia fans will still look back on the events that occurred around the Champions League qualifier at Murrayfield in August 2014.
And Legia’s terribly disappointing season last year didn’t help matters either, nor did the club’s attempts to cash-in on the Brouc farewell by releasing a clothing range to mark the occasion.
READ THIS...“I have one final dream left at Legia and that is to have a full stadium,” Boruc’s plea
Since the former Celtic goalkeeper’s plea to the Legia supporters there has been developments from the club which hopefully will have the desired effect and see a large and passionate crowd – their fans were superb at Murrayfield back in 2014 – attend the match at the Marshall Józef Piłsudski’s Municipal Stadium on Wednesday night.
Yesterday afternoon Legia Warsaw released a statement on the club’s official website in an attempt to resolve the issued surrounding this ticket-stand-off with their supporters.
“On Wednesday, 20 July at 18:00 we will bid farewell to Artur Boruc with a unique match between Legia Warsaw and Celtic FC,” the club stated.
“Listening to the voice of the fans, today from 17:00 all ticket prices have been reduced by 20PLN. Tickets for children under 13 are available for 10PLN. All those who bought tickets earlier can get a refund of the price difference.
“We would also like to remind you that there is still a 30% discount with the new season pass. Come and say goodbye to Artur Boruc together with us!”
The capacity of Legia’s stadium is 31,800 and around the time the club issued the statement the ticket sales for the visit of Celtic was just over 4000 so there’s plenty of work still to be done.
However having won the argument with the club’s bosses it’s more than likely that the Legia fans will now get behind this match and are almost certain to provide Celtic with a hostile reception. Memories are long in football as we ourselves know, just think back to playing Rapid Vienna last Saturday.
Before heading to Warsaw Celtic have their first match of the new season tomorrow lunchtime against Blackburn Rovers and there will be no fears concerning the size of the crowd for this one!
