Newsroom Staff
AT last night’s pre-season friendly match against Manchester City, a number of adult supporters attempted to enter the stadium using a concession season ticket.

They were caught by stewards, the tickets were taken off them and they have been banned from Celtic Park. These adults will not be refunded for the concession season tickets they purchased.

A Celtic spokesperson said: “The club won’t tolerate this and we will be unrelenting in our bid to stop this practice. These people are cheating fellow Celtic supporters and the Club.”

Prior to last night’s game against Manchester City, the club had already announced that turnstile checks would be carried out as well as spot-checks on seats occupied by those in possession of a concession ticket, and that the strongest possible action would be taken against people in possession of an incorrect ticket.

The checks will continue to be carried out with the minimum of inconvenience to genuine supporters, who will appreciate why the club is taking such action.

What a laughable statement.

God, bring back the old board.

yet they are trying to steal 5% of everyone elses ticket fees...what a strange rationale the plc have.

FFS how harsh is that you would think it was a champions league game the way the club are carrying on.

Next we will have photos and fingerprints on season tickets so you can't go if your mate cant make it.

No wonder it was so empty.

Well that's me or my mate fooked...seemed a good idea at the time tho...

p.s..hopefully it's all talk and no action!!

Do as I say, not as I do.

What a bunch of fucking pricks Celtic PLC are.

What's wrong with that? Surely these people have purchased these tickets fraudulently and should face the consequences? I am sure the many thousands of other season ticket holders have had to graft for the money to buy at full price and these nuggets come along and try to cheat the club they profress to love. I find it very odd that anyone would stick up for them?

I could maybe understand the clubs position if it was a high profile game but not a friendly aginst Man city four days before the start of the season which was being televised.

The bottom line is that the peole who tried to get in were Celtic fans hoping to see their club.Does this sort of thing not happen at other clubs?

They should be delighted there were mugs willing to give them any cold hard cash at all to attend such a complete and utter waste of time as a pre season friendly is.

Aye, I agree. Why should people get away with conning the club by buying tickets they aren't entitled to?

The thing is it's a win win situation for them, I doubt they will refund the price of the tickets and then will no doubt be able to sell that seat again.

i don't know what's funnier, the fact that celtic fans are shown to be such a bunch of cheapskate gypos or the fact that john reid is turning celtic into his own mini police state.

It's season tickets though, so they'd be used for Champions League games later in the season.

I can't actually disagree with Celtic's stance on this either.

Season tickets are non-transferable, so yes.

Don't be a dauber just change yer name

Wear a skirt,long wig and talk-in a high voice.

You paid £450 to go and watch a team you don't even support?

i should really change that bit

One of my main gripes was with the statement that was released and quotes such as:

[b]"These people are cheating fellow Celtic supporters and the Club.”[/b]

Firstly, they aren't cheating me. Secondly, the plc have a cheek talking about people cheating Celtic supporters when they have been doing that for years.

"The checks will continue to be carried out with the minimum of inconvenience to genuine supporters"

Firstly, why are these my 'fellow Celtic supporters' now not 'genuine supporters'?
Secondly, the plc have a cheek about inconveniencing supporters when that's exactly what they are doing with their '5%' campaign.

Oh, and to ban anyone from Celtic Park for this is an utter disgrace.

Are they being banned or it more a case of the STs being confiscated?

I guess my St. Mirren ST is no different to other clubs' in that it states something along the lines of "This ST remains the property of St. Mirren FC and can be withdrawn at any time"

By using a concession ST to which they are not entitled to, they will be in breach of some small print condition.

Confiscating the ST is one thing and IMO Sellick are right to do this but if anyone is indefinitely banned from the stadium then that is wrong.

Banned apparently. For the remainder of the season. Stewards will be at the turnstyles on Sunday too.

Thousands of Celtic fans have jobs and work hard at them? You've taken it too far there, son

Anyhow, fair play to the PLC for doing this, they've got their profits to think of. At least doing it before a piddly pre season friendly is easier than on an SPL day (when there'll be bigger crowds etc).

Celtic Stewards have been giving visiting supporters a hard time for years, it's about time they laid down the law to the home support too...

Where your fall down above, is that the Celtic stewards and have been arseholes with the home support for years. Indeed, only last season two Celtic supporters took court action over the treatment they received from one particular steward.

Glasnost you seem to want things to go back to the way they were before Fergus McCann came in. I assume you believe that in those days the board were interested solely in the highest possible ethical standards and the welfare on the supporters. That's not the way I remember things though. The governance of the club was dreadful and any success the club achieved in those days owed nothing at all to their stewardship - certainly no more and unquestionably a good deal less than present day successes do. The reality is that football is big business and it is absolutely pointless to pretend otherwise. Maybe the only successful club where this is not the case is Barcelona and they seem to have no qualms at all about cosying up to Celtic. You should realise that your negativity effectively undermines pretty much any point or argument you wish to make. I doubt if anyone seriously expects you to post anything remotely positive about the club now.

What on earth has the above post got to do with the post of mind that you have quoted?

With regards to the 'old board' in relation to the post of mine you quoted, then they most certainly did not clamp down on the supporters the way the current custodians do.

When it comes to the treatment of supporters, whilst the old board were not the best (and please don't take me thinking they were great as you appear to have already done), since McCann settled into the club, it's been a steady downfall for the worst.

Do you seriously mean to support the actions of supporters pretending to be children?

In terms of a steady downfall for the worst - from my perspective it's been pretty much all uphill in terms of results. I don't have any doubt that Strachan's team is more effective and more football minded than O'Neills was. Three titles in a row - don't even begin to suggest this is despite rather than because of Strachan. Two last sixteens in the CL.

Behave.

I wonder if the club will take the same stance with Graveson and Balde who have been cheating them out of around 70k a week for the last two years

Talking to a Celtic supporting friend tonight, apparantly this practice is widespread amongst Celtic fans , and many did not go to the St Mirren game , as a result.

It really is quite poor that a club like Celtic, could sell so many concession tickrets for many years with no proof of age.

Although the Celtic fans should not be doing this , surely it is the responsibility of Celtic to check when selling the season tickets.

I have also heard of Celtic fans setting up bogus supporters clubs to obtain away tickets, they really need to be doing more checking , especially when charging other clubs 5%.

Yep, it is a pretty poor show that they don't ask for proof of age for buying season tickets. I was going to buy a season ticket at Rangers until they told me that for people of 16 and over it is £291 for a season ticket in the Copland Road stand, there is no way I can afford that as I am only 16. However, if they did not ask for proof of age I would probably be able to buy a juvenile season ticket which only costs £130

So, in that respect it is better for the people who want a season ticket and maybe are not able to pay the full price of an adult season ticket but cheating the club you support is not a true way to show your support

It's a shame that this is happening, but we need to enforce the rules, fans with dodgy tickets can upgrade them

I am talking about the treatment of supporters in general terms.



I am not talking about results.



Please see the literally hundreds of other threads and posts about this, where you have no doubt argued with me many times over.

If they pay the full price of the ticket on top of what they have paid, that should be sufficient penalty.

To be banned is harsh, i would guess someone could challenge this.

They could challenge it, but they are getting off lightly - lucky that they are not up on a fraud charge.

Glasnost - whats your feelings on visiting fans buying concession tickets? For example, how would you feel if 80% of the visiting Rangers support were all on concession tickets?

We don't offer the huns any concession tickets I am sure. As for other clubs I am not sure whether we offer them or not, if we do it is a very limited amount.

Only a few clubs offer us concession tickets for away games if indeed any do anymore.

There is no concession tickets for us at Parkhead, and I'm sure it's the same for them at Ibrox

So what if there was, would you be happy at a large % of Rangers supporters taking concessions, if they had jobs/over 18 etc?

But there isn't so it's futile questioning me on something that isn't going to happen.

Humour me. It's the principle that I am looking for you to answer. Then again, your answer probably wont fit your agenda and would shoot your argument down in flames, and I think you know that......

Why would I want to humour you by answering an illogical question based on something that is never going to happen?



Oh good god. Pray tell, what on earth is my agenda?

Accies allow PATG away fans to pay the concession price of just £11, which I reckon is pretty good as it includes students. Hopefully we can do the decent thing and offer the same for all-ticket games such as those against Celtic.

Incidentally, I think the decent thing for Celtic to do re: their dodgy ST holders would be to hold an amnesty allowing anyone to upgrade to an adult ST, no questions asked.

You would only offer us a very limited amount of concession tickets (say 5%.) if at all.

It is logical though, as I would guess that you would be outraged if away supporters were fleecing your club.





They are cheating you - people buying tickets fraudulently are taking funds away from Celtic. Funds that could be used to improve your "product" as the board might say. So, in a way, they are cheating you out of possible players that might better the team. I would argue that their support isn't genuine as whilst they are turning up for games, they are quite happy to commit fraud to do so.

And you are right, they shouldn't be banned from Celtic Park. They should be banned and charged for fraud.

Oh, that was your agenda - quoted from you earlier on in this thread. Tit.

Given it is something that does and will not happen, how on earth can it be deemed a logical question to ask? You may as well ask me how I would feel if Celtic gave our entire away allocation each week to Martians.



Highly amusing that you think a handful of people trying to get into the stadium on a concession ticket are stopping Celtic from going out and buying players that would better the team

As a matter of fact, people buying their club merchandise from outlets other than official Celtic ones are by your reasoning also cheating me and the club. But that's by the by.........you still haven't told me what my agenda is supposed to be. Quoting a post of mine doesn't do that.

Just because the probably of happening is low, doesn't mean it's illogical.

For example -

Question - Glasnost, How would you feel if away supporters were ripping off your club by buying reduced priced tickets they were not entitled to.

Answer - I would be unhappy at that, ClydeSI

Reply - Well glasnost, should you not be unhappy at your own supporters doing it to the club?



A handful? Source?



No, people buying from outwith the official Celtic shops are not cheating you and the club, and I am not sure where you have picked this out of my reasoning - voices in your head maybe?.

The club authorises the sales of these shirts to sports shops via their deal with the kit manufacturers, and therefore make money from it. This was a traditional way of selling to supporters until larger clubs realised that they could enhance the business model of selling merchandise to make more profit direct to the club.

The quoted post was a perfect example of you berating the board like a broken record, and shows up your agenda to rally against the club quite well. Sometimes, when I chance on your posts, you seem like the Celtic version of David Edgar. Not looking to form an "assembly" are you?

SO, it's just a handful then?

Oh I have no source. A handful in relative terms given that we have over 50,000 season ticket holders the vast majority of whom I’d imagine have kept their same seat. How many do you think it is that would result in the club not being able to afford possible players that might better the team as you have said?



The........."are taking funds away from Celtic” part. So you are suggesting that it makes no difference in terms of the money Celtic receive, if someone buys club merchandise from any old shop as opposed to from Celtic themselves. If so, that would mean the club have been lying to us over the years when they indicated buying from the club makes a difference.



Well at least you managed an explanation this time. Not only do I dislike the plc (though I would give credit where I think it is due) on a wider scale I am feeling more and more disillusioned with modern football.

Given that the laxness that Celtic seem to have in selling season tickets then banning people is well over the top, by miles IMO, these are Celtic fans we're talking about...Celtic are partially culpable they need to announce that fans need to upgrade any tickets being used by persons that should be paying more.

I'd like to see a much stricter controlled sales that would take into account the unemployed, youngsters etc

So, it's Celtic PLC's fault that grown adults have been buying "child" tickets?

Is it the bus company's fault if I try to sneak on for a half fare?