Celtic have issued a plea to supporters ahead of this weekend’s potential title celebrations, urging fans to back the team responsibly both inside and outside Celtic Park.
The Hoops know victory over Hearts on Saturday lunchtime would secure the title that at several points during the season appeared beyond their reach.
The Green Brigade and Bhoys Celtic have already called on fans to generate a fierce atmosphere at the stadium, but the club has now stressed the importance of safety and respectful behaviour throughout the weekend.
In a statement released ahead of the decisive fixture, Celtic warned that only ticket holders should travel to the stadium due to the expected sell-out crowd of 60,000.
A club spokesperson said: “Everyone at Celtic is looking ahead to an exciting weekend where we aim to do all we can to bring our fans success again. It has been an eventful season and we welcome Heart of Midlothian to an occasion where both sets of players will be doing all they can to lift the Premiership title.
“We understand the level of excitement from fans and, as ever, our priority will be to ensure that all our fans to have a safe experience right across the weekend.”
The club also emphasised concerns over congestion around the ground and urged supporters to arrive early to avoid disruption on matchday.
“In these circumstances, we want to be very clear that only those supporters with valid season tickets and match tickets should visit Celtic Park,” the spokesperson continued.
“We are expecting a sell-out, 60,000 capacity crowd at the stadium and it is hugely important from a safety perspective that people without tickets do not come to the area.
“In addition, we must ask those supporters WITH tickets to ensure they arrive at the stadium as early as possible. Again, the late arrival of supporters is problematic in terms of achieving a smooth entry to the stadium.”
Attention also turned to the possibility of large-scale celebrations in Glasgow city centre should Celtic clinch the title, with the club revealing discussions had taken place with Glasgow City Council over managing public gatherings.
The statement added: “If we are fortunate enough to be successful on Saturday, we would ask our supporters to be mindful of the challenges which have been faced by Glasgow City Centre previously.
“Glasgow City Council has committed to working together with football clubs on facilitating potential celebrations which would be meaningful to fans and less impactful on communities.”
Celtic also highlighted concerns surrounding public safety, emergency service access and the impact on other events taking place across the city, including the Cancer Research 10k Race for Life on Sunday.
The spokesperson said: “If successful on Saturday, we would absolutely want our fans to enjoy their own celebrations, but given these events and the wider logistics, we would therefore discourage supporters from attending gatherings in the city centre this weekend, where there is no safety management in place and which have such a high impact on the city.”
Martin O’Neill echoed the club’s message and urged supporters to celebrate responsibly if the title is secured.
He said: “It goes without saying that, if we are successful, we will all looking forward to enjoying it but it’s also important that we do so safely and responsibly. We want all our fans to be safe and ensure that we are mindful of others and our wider community.
“Our fans have such a great reputation for positively supporting the team and if we do achieve what we want at the weekend, we want that positive support to shine through again.
“Whatever the outcome on Saturday, everyone at the club thanks our fans for their wonderful continuing support.”
Conor Spence
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1 Comment
We all know that some people are proud nit to go with the rules abd the love ut uts aniruchay and Celtic have attracted them flying hamas flags whish is nothing like the Irish plight they forced A man that was proud to wear the hoops now cause of these people that got into ultras and made the young supporter that they are fighting for a cause iys upset players watching colliege and friend force to leave im sure that they were upset board or supporters didnt back him against these people who only there for the large media following throwing balls on the pitch even though it was a board thing it was still that crowd of anirchists that got the view closed it wasnt green brigade the got tickets for away games ufortunetly so did a couple of them with the hamas banner supporters no now they were duped into card showing so John paul knows or should know them and barr them from tickets home and away we wont be able to stop idiots lighting flares thats silly younsters looking for attention they dont get anywhere else cause yhey feel save in wuth the big boys that use them