LETTER TO PETER LAWWELL

St. Anne's-on-Sea

Lancs.

27-4-2006

Dear Mr. Lawwell,

I hope this letter finds you well.

Please bear with me as I have one or two issues I would like to air with respect to midweek home fixtures and supporter facilities at the stadium.

Midweek home fixtures;

This year we have had 6 of our 19 season book games midweek, a third more or less.

This, in my humble opinion, hurts Celtic football club in two respects.

In one respect we have a financial advantage over our main rivals due to the fact that we have roughly 10.000 more seats available on match days.

This advantage is negated however when we have our home league games in midweek and Rangers midweek games are away from home, this has happened both this year and last year.

Having attended all of the games this year (as usual), I can only presume that the official attendance (as announced) includes season book holders, as the actual attendances are well below those given.

For arguments sake, let's say the 6 midweek fixtures are 10,000 down on a full house (a not outrageous guestimate I would hazard).

The lost revenue from these missing supporters alone probably add up to the annual TV revenue the club currently attracts, so Setanta are hardly in a position to call the piper I would respectfully suggest.

My second point on the midweek fixtures is; I attend all home games on the Blackpool Shamrock Supporters club bus and we, like many of the other numerous far flung supporters clubs no doubt, are hurting financially due to these season book games being played midweek.

On the back of my season book is a quote from Jock Stein, “Football is nothing, without the fans.”

We have run busses (£650 to hire) with 12-14 souls to midweek league fixtures this year and much more of the same will be unsustainable.

It has been suggested that we revert to minibuses and/or cars, that's what we used to do but we actually (happily) pay a premium to ensure a reasonable level of comfort on our 8 hour return journey.

We (erroneously it would appear) assume at the start of each season that the majority of season book games will be Saturday 15.00 kick off's which ensures a full bus, this gives use some flexibility to cover the understandably less well attended midweek cup fixtures

We happily spend vast sums of money on our club (Celtic) but we feel we are being taken for a ride on this issue of midweek fixtures and, as usual, no one appears to be listening to us

The last game of the season against Kilmarnock will be the first time for as long as I can remember that we will not be running a bus, this fixture was the straw which broke the camel's back.

I would love to see all our trophies being paraded and indeed may still drive up to the game but I'd rather I had the option of the comfort of the supporters bus, I hope this is not the start of a trend.

I would be disappointed Mr. Lawwell if you say the club has no influence on the fixtures, this issue threatens the lifeblood of the club and the SFA/SPL MUST be made to listen to its customers.

My final point is the lack of facilities, particularly for people with kids outside the stadium on both match days and generally when people visit the stadium / superstore / ticket office.

I'm convinced people would like to relax with some refreshments/entertainment/good toilet facilities external to (but in the vicinity of) the stadium rather than make their way down the Gallowgate or to the London Road club.

Chances are, they cannot access the pubs/clubs with their kids anyway, and I feel we are missing a huge opportunity here. Indeed Manchester United are laying on facilities to cater for us when at their stadium, can we not pick up on this?

Please accept the above as constructive criticism, we (Celtic FC) are heading in the right direction and the future is indeed looking bright, I'd just like to witness the future in the company of my friends on the bus from Blackpool .

Yours in Celtic

John Johnston

Blackpool Shamrock CSC

CLUB REPLY

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