Letter to Neil Doncaster re Hearts tickets. Great victory in difficult conditions.

[Joe O'Rourke]

This morning I wrote to Neil Doncaster in regards to the latest cut to our ticket allocation by Hearts, to cut our allocation to 576 is absolutely scandalous, and needs to be examined by the SPL and all the stakeholders of Scottish Football. The letter is at the foot of the page.


Well Saturday was a challenge for everyone, the players put in a great performance in terrible conditions, and the supporters who managed to get to Celtic Park through the tidal waves deserve a medal, and quite a few made it. In Inverclyde only one bus out of the usual 15/16 made it to Paradise, so well done. We managed to get there by car, leaving the Port an hour earlier than normal.

The match itself was a good display, and a very welcome three points for the Champions. As usual Derek McInnes made his team hard to beat, and they have a couple of decent players, I thought the right back was a good player, so although not an easy victory, it was a comfortable victory.

It was brilliant to see Reo Hatate back to his best, and the same can be said of Cameron Carter-Vickers, the big man was immense in difficult circumstances. It’s going to be a difficult decision for Brendan if Liam Scales continues in that form, he certainly hasn’t looked out of place at the heart of the Celtic defence, and I include against Lazio in that comment. We also look to have found a player in Luis Palma, he’s a big lad for a wide man, he’s strong and has a great right foot, as he showed with his goal, that could have been three in three only for the dreaded VAR versus Lazio.

We now have a break for a couple weeks, although most of our players will be away on International duty, it will give our injured players a chance to get nearer playing time. So good luck to all the Bhoys who are away, let’s hope Liam Scales fulfils his dream of playing for Ireland.

Glasgow’s still Green & White.

Dear Neil,
I hope you’re well in these trying times for everyone. The reason for my email is the latest cut to the ticket allocation to Celtic Football Club by Heart of Midlothian Football Club. It is becoming increasingly frustrating for the Celtic Supporters who are trying to access tickets for away matches in Scotland, bearing in mind that Celtic have the biggest travelling support in Scotland, and maybe even in the UK, it makes no sense for some clubs who continually complain about lack of funds, to be denying tickets to visiting supporters when there are plenty of seats available within their stadium.

I know you have said in the past that you don’t want to interfere in how clubs allocate their tickets, but something has to be done, to use “A reasonable amount” as the yardstick is absolutely ludicrous, and has to change, before it has a serious impact on Scottish Football, and not in a positive way, but the exact opposite. The powers that be in Scotland need to convene an emergency meeting of the SPL as a matter of urgency, before it’s too late to save some clubs.

Just as UEFA impose supporter allocation on clubs participating In their tournaments, it’s high time for the SPFL to do the same. I don’t know of any Football Association in Europe that let the clubs decide such an important issue, and I include our nearest neighbours England in that. I believe in the English Premier League visiting clubs are allocated 3,000 tickets, or 10% if the stadium capacity is greater the 30,000, they also had a price cap for visiting supporters, but that’s an argument for a different day. Some people may think that stadia in England are all like Old Trafford or the Emirates, they’re not, for instance Fulham and Crystal Palace have capacity of around 25,000, Brentford has 17,000, Bournemouth has 11,000, and finally Luton {my favourite} has just over 10,000, hardly World Cup standard.

I think in Scotland it would be difficult to use a percentage of the capacity for allocation purposes, we don’t really have a big problem at Perth or Livingston, but we do have at, Ibrox. Kilmarnock, St Mirren, and the latest allocation from Hearts of 576, is absolutely scandalous. How do Supporters Clubs run coaches to matches when they might have one ticket? Will we see coach companies going into liquidation because the cancellation of football coaches, probably one trip to an away match would pay the drivers wages for the whole week. We were allocated over 7,000 tickets for Livingston, and there were still supporters outside trying to buy tickets, so Livingston and St Johnstone maximise the allocation to help themselves, while we have Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, and St Mirren giving small allocations while their stadium is far from full, financial suicide.

I would respectfully suggest a minimum allocation of 2,500 tickets for clubs who can sell the allocation to their own supporters, that would create a proper atmosphere, especially when the visitors were Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, and Hearts and Hibs. Aberdeen cut our allocation because seats were thrown at their supporters by visiting fans from another club, so why should Celtic Supporters be punished for the actions of other fans? Hearts have cut us continually over the last few seasons, we have went from a full stand, to 1,400, and now down to 576, are there no safety concerns for such a small number of visiting supporters? Celtic have been forced to decline tickets for Ibrox because the safety of our staff and supporters couldn’t be guaranteed, will we be forced to decline tickets from Hearts too? And the irony of it is, Hearts will give their most hated rivals Hibs, a full stand, which will be reciprocated. Are Celtic Football Club the only club in Scotland with a professional and successful Board of Directors? It certainly looks like it.
Kind regards,
Joe O’Rourke,
General Secretary,
Celtic Supporters Association.