I was at the Allianz Arena when we visited on Champions League duty this season. There are many reasons to like the Munich stadium (although navigating back to the bus was not one of them), but stadium lights were like nothing I had ever seen.
Not only do they illuminate the Arena to a near-daylight level, they can instantly flash on and off, creating a spectacular pre-match lightshow. Tools like this improve stadium atmosphere as well as providing a more striking event for TV viewers. Celtic Park will be transformed when we install these lights this summer.
A new hybrid pitch (part grass, part plastic) will provide the very best surface available anywhere in the world. It will be durable and bowling green-smooth.
Money will also be spent on the roof, which is the Achilles heel of the stadium. The design is prone to leaks and makes it difficult for public address and wifi systems to effectively reach spectators. A seven figure sum will be spent on the roof, but we need to realise a fundamental rethink is required.
As international tournaments reached Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine and now Russia, closing roofs were installed at stadiums. This increases attendance, game-experience, time inside the stadium and makes the game attractive to new attendees, who would never consider sitting in an exposed wind 147 steps in the air.
This technology has never been more affordable and is the norm from Kazakhstan to Cardiff. It needs to come to Celtic Park. I suspect those who sit in the South Stand do not have a full grasp on the match day experience of those in the upper sections of the rest of the stadium.
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MIKE IN TORONTO. what does aggiornamento! mean.smiley thing.
Good news about Bain. Great potential.
Nat Know…
Actually, pal….. I tend to agree with you, and think you have expressed it quite well…
the question is, the world having moved on …. the Troubles over, religion no longer as much a part of people’s lives … what would it mean today? That is something I am trying to get my head around.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
:)
BP … when Pope John XXIII announced that he was calling a new Vatican Council to update the Church (what we now call Vatican II), that was the word he used …. it means an updating, but poetically it was described as ‘awakening’ or an opening of a window onto the world. …
always been one of my favourite words …
did I break the blog? or just bore you all to sleep?
MIT
‘ playing for a people and a cause ‘
Tommy’s words today are even more appropriate.
Tommy lived and breathed Celtic and next to his faith and family were the most important thing to him.
When he says ‘ a people ‘ I believe he meant that every time we see those green and white hooped jerseys emerge from the tunnel it is a victory for our forefathers and for us.
We have been subjected to bigotry, jealousy hatred and cheating and emerged victorious.
‘ a cause ‘ I believe he meant our history and tradition are worth fighting for.
We have a conscience , a penchant for fast attacking football and great men and women who support us.
Generations of my family supported the club… it is a passion and a calling.
In the weeks leading up to my fathers death we spoke about Celtic, fortunately I was able to take him to Paradise one last time.
‘ the cause ‘ is heartfelt and genuine.
Celtic mean so much to to so many.
Sorry for my ramblings but when I really think about it , this crazy club really mean that much
God bless Tommy
God bless Dad
HH
The future’s in safe hands: Scott Bain signs four-year deal
By: Tony Connelly on 10 May, 2018 18:59
SCOTT Bain will remain at Celtic after agreeing a four-year deal with the Scottish champions today (Thursday).
The 26-year-old goalkeeper arrived at Paradise at the end of the January transfer window on a loan agreement from Dundee.
His stay was due to expire at the close of the season, however Celtic are delighted to announce that Bain has signed a four-year contract which will see him remain at Paradise until at least the summer of 2022.
Speaking exclusively to Celtic TV immediately after signing the contract, Bain said: “I’m delighted. It’s more than I obviously expected when I first came in. I’m over the moon.
“I don’t think it could have gone any better. It’s funny, there’s a lot of little things that went my way to get to Celtic on loan and then to play the game against Rangers, which sent me on my way to this four-year-deal. It’s been great and I’ve loved every minute of it.”
Bain made his Celtic debut on March 11 in a Glasgow derby against Rangers at Ibrox. The Hoops stopper was given an unexpected place in the starting XI after Dorus de Vries was ruled out through injury the morning of the game.
It was a highpressure situation but Bain was remarkable throughout the game and made several crucial saves which ultimately proved to be instrumental in a 10-man Celtic side’s 3-2 win.
Reflecting on his impressive debut, Bain said: “That game showed the manager everything he needed to know. He said after the game that it’s one of the biggest games to play and it really showed him my mentality and that I could handle being a Celtic player.”
He has since gone on to make six appearances for Celtic with three clean sheets and in that time, Bain said he has come to realise the magnitude of each game when you play for Celtic, but he admitted he feels at home in the team.
“There are no small games and there are no easy games here. Everyone ups their game to play Celtic and you need to be on it 100 per cent of the time, in games and training.
“I’ve settled in well with all the boys in the changing room and they’ve made it really easy for me. It’s a great changing room to be in and a great club to be at.
“When you’re not involved you know Celtic’s a big club but it’s not until you’re here that you fully realise the magnitude of it all and how many people have your eye on you.”
Bain’s future may now be secured but he maintained that his immediate targets have not changed.
“I have the same aims that I’ve had since I arrived here which is to improve as much as I can on a daily basis.
“I have all the facilities here, the manager, the staff, the goalkeeping coaches like Woodsy, to reach my full potential. The sky is really the limit. It’s about working hard and putting my all into this club.”
West Ham playing Man Utd tonight.
I’m sure there’s some paint needs watching dry…..
MIT
Travelling home from work earlier through a glorious evening in Clydebank, I went through Republican Whitecrook and saw most of the kids in Whitecrook Park resplendent in Green and White hooped strips playing fitba. Reached Republican Dalmuir and witnessed similar. Tommy Burns quote came to mind. “When you pull on that Celtic jersey, you’re not just playing for a football team. You’re playing for a people and a cause.”
You see our future is safe on nights like this.
Clydebank is Green and White. Magic!
YNWA
mike in toronto on 10th May 2018 7:39 pm
did I break the blog? or just bore you all to sleep?
——–
Maybe everyone is watching West Ham v Man Utd :-)
MIKE IN TORONTO, anything the holy father says is allright by me.hh.
MIT
‘when you were playing for Celtic, you are playing for a people and a cause’,
For me Tommy’s words still hold true today as they did way back when he said them.
I don’t and never believed his words were in anyway related to religion or any rebellion against any nation.
His words for me refer who founded our club, those who supported here and for all those fans born from those same people who all grew to support the club with her charitable foundation and giving and caring hearts.
Today, however as the club grows as a business the people and the cause is slowly metamorhisising into something different from how Tommy viewed us then.
With corporate focus comes corporate fans (and I don’t mean fans who buy corporate tix, boxes or hospitality) who have no real connection to the club’s founding ethos. Something that many on here evidence in their posts and comments.
MWD
MIT
I would think that Tommy Burns would have meant not just Celtic fans, Irish diaspora, Catholics etc but also those who stand up for the underdog, the reviled in society, the forgotten, the poor. I’m sure he would have been delighted at the food bank collections, the money raised for Mary’s meals and the political and charitable causes that Celtic fans participate in.
I can’t claim that Celtic fans are more charitable than any other club but I do think that it is in our core to look to help where we can due to our origins. Whether the club do enough is up for debate but the fans do and continue to do what they think is right and that is what keeps me in love with Celtic football club.
Great news re Bain, the pitch and maybe the roof if that is feasible.
But I still believe the fans’ café beside the Superstore is long overdue.
MIKE IN TORONTO
On cooking duties:))
Lads
This is an issue that is important to me, so I appreciate each of you taking the time to respond….
some interesting answers already…
just stepping into a meeting, so may not respond right away…. but, I will certainly read them all, and may have some questions later, if I may.
Thanks.
SP … are you a chef by training? For some reason, I thought you might be…
if so, when should we be over for dinner?
:)
BATEEN BHOY on 10TH MAY…
I’m going to a 50th tomorrow, Lynne going as Agnetha from ABBA and I’m going as Adam Ant.
We were going to go as Adam & Eve but there is food on and we didnt want to put folk off their grub.? ?
MIT
Just in case it’s misunderstood, when I said “For me Tommy’s words still hold true today as they did way back when he said them.” I meant that from a personal POV not a general supporter POV.
MWD
Scott Bain signing a 4 year deal might well mean that Dorus is away on the Deadwood stage.
regards watching man u and west ham, think ive told you before i live 16 miles from anfield and 18 miles from old trafford, but would not watch either if playing in my back garden, call me jealous of the epl maybe so, but my team is glasgow celtic end of.hh.
Out to the pub but a final thought on Celtic fans.
I used to work beside an Arsenal fan who had a season ticket and used to spend big chunks of the working day trying to sell his ticket to matches he was going to miss. I would hear him on the phone arguing with his friends over how much they should pay him for the match.
I have a mate who is a season ticket holder at Man Utd who is quite well off who does the same.
On here someone will offer a total stranger a ticket for nothing or for a charitable donation because they want someone to see Celtic
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL AT 7.44PM….Belfast pal of mine texted me from outside ground at 5pm. No tickets available. Touts asking £150!!
Anyway, to more pertinent matters.
Some of you may be aware that I rarely get involved in throwing poisoned barbs in the direction of our erstwhile Glasgow Rivals. Mainly because my admiration for them knows no beginning, and anyway even with a sense of friendly rivalry and fun there is no need, as someone else usually throws a leg of ‘deid’ lamb into the waiting shoal of piranha ravenous for any morsel of perceived slight.
So thankyou BBC for this absolute corker.
It is I think fair to say that any hopes that BBC Sportsound had of a welcome back to the ibrox fold in the near future has probably been scuppered by their southern masters especially if, god forbid, some scurrilous individuals decided to make use of it.
Is this the history they are so desperate to preserve?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44046031
Hail Hail
Matt
I’m hungry and I fancy some Banana Pakora from Murphys Pakora Bar. Still can’t believe it’s closed all these years later.
MWD
Sipsini
Hahaha. Brilliant mi amigo. Send L my love. Listening to Wales greatest ever band tonight. Manic Street Preachers Bhoyos.
Motorcycle Emptiness one of my favourite ever songs. Super Furry Animals next.
Cymru Rocks
YNWA
I think there is a lot of mythology and rosy-tinted memories involved in viewing our past and comparing the present unfavourably as a result.
Anyone who read Brendan Sweeney’s book: Celtic – The Early Years 1887-92 would have seen many instances where profit and ambition trumped charity. Even Brother Walfrid recognised that we needed a successful team in order to attract bigger crowds and more revenue, so that some of that increase could have been diverted to charitable causes.
We could have been an all amateur team, like Queen’s Park, reducing costs and the likelihood of success, but being able to pay all of the profit from gates to charitable causes, but we never ever considered that. We were from the beginning a football club, designed to represent our community and to achieve success. We had charitable roots but charity was not our primary purpose.
Brendan Sweeney notes that, when we were drawn against Queens Park in a SC semi-final in 1890, we raised the price for entry to the pavilion from sixpence to a shilling because it was an attractive match which fetched a large crowd. There is no record of any Aloysious Jungle writing constantly to the Celtic Supporter’s Almanac and Sporting Chronicle for the next few years berating his fellow fans for paying the Board’s shilling.
We have always been primarily a football club (with a touch of magic attached)
We were always open to all but we represented the Irish diaspora and the Catholic community formed from it.
We were always trying to maximise our sporting success and not prioritising charitable donations.
This has been true from Day One and remains true now. The present Board, political affiliations aside, are not of a different nature to the landlords and publicans that made money off the needs or “vices” of the poor, but had the funds to help the club get started and continue to operate profitably.
The sums required nowadays are more astronomical and the skill sets of directors need to be more international and less parochial but the intent is the same.
The Board have always served as a convenient scapegoat – The suits who are not like us. But we have always had Boards which were entrepreneurial, socially conservative (not the party) and Catholic in outlook. There was never a time where they were rabble rousing or risk takers. They were neither avowedly socialist nor overtly Republican in their proclamations (though many of their members had such sentiments- they did not make a habit of associating them with the club on too many occasions)
There is enough to be proud of in the true story of our origins and growth that we have no need to invent a mythical past in order to berate the present by contrast. Not a lot has changed in human nature.
Celtic is a football club. It’s support makes it more than a club but it is still, humbly and primarily, a football club with football aims.
DELANEYS DUNKY on 10TH MAY 2018 6:02 PM
Greenpinata
My best memory of the Allianz Arena in October was not the match or the light show, but my hauf time beer and proper sausage hot dog. Civilised crowd the Bavarians.
———-
I was so impressed by the polite hospitality of the Munich fans (entirely!) surrounding me that I went but beers at half time.
Only to discover they were alcohol free!!!
??
???
I predict jobo will renew.
So too will Gaz Nesta Delaney
Good Bain’s signed.
IMHO
Right footer goalies are better at distributing balls than left & I think CG is left footed.
May be wrong…
HH
SFTB
No rose tinted glasses here! Green tinted? Aye very much so. But I don’t think it is for you to decide how I view our club our how I related Tommy’s words as rose tinted. I gave my opinion and my opinion stands well with me and will forever so.
MWD
was not going to mention this, but need to get it off my chest, as you know you are my family on here so who else can i talk to, just found out my 86 year old mother in law has been giving money to a woman who used to be her next door neighbour, now this woman has been getting 5 pounds ,10 pounds every other week from my mother in law, with the usual sob story cant pay the rent but she goes out 3 or 4 times a week drinking, now it came to a head last week when my mother in law realised she had given this woman nearly a thousand pounds, with no chance of repayment, so she stopped the payments, now by coincidence she has been getting someone banging on her door at 3- o clock in the morning, nearly every night this last week, to say she is terrified is an understatment, the police came out once and told her to install a cctv camera, this is britain in 2018.
MiT
For me TB was a ‘gentle rebel’ in that he stood for justice and equality of opportunity and that inevitably set him against the establishment and status quo. Naturally the Irish diaspora in Scotland were the greatest victims of the establishment over the last 2 centuries. But it’s significant that minorities, immigrants and those who favour the underdog continue to gravitate towards Celtic.
He is Mr Celtic and so outstanding because he stood out so much. Few of his teammates were of that ilk. Few of his players were when he was the manager. Simply because TB types are few and far between and therefore should be cherished.
Last night I got soaked like you only can in Glasgow. I was met with the biggest smiles and most heartfelt thanks by the Foundation volunteers collecting for the food banks. Commercial tho CFC plc undoubtedly now is, we arguably now do more as a club and support to practically change peoples’ lives that at any stage in our existence.
TB would recognise that aspect at least, and be proud of it, and see it as tangible actions to honour his ideal.
Choosing to support Celtic has been fundamental to my life and values. It was always more than a club for me.
HH jamesgang. ??
MIKE IN TORONTO
I was in the kitchen for a loooong time Mike, starting in London in the 90’s!! That’s how I could get to stay in Switzerland:)) No formal training I started as a pearl diver in a decent kitchen worked my way up from there!
I stopped cooking when wee Starry the second came along, she’ll be 8 soon, it’s no really a family job.
Went back to one of my first loves about five years ago:))
Click on my user name and ye’ll see whit keeps me out of trouble these days!
Slow roast balsamic beetroot:)) Mmmmmm
HH
Starry
Some very good work there.
MWD
Always remember TB after we beat huns in Scottish Cup & Chic (i think) interviewed him on pitch & he said somethin like…’ tell wee John Paul ( who was in hospital) .. .ah love him… & will see him later.
TB was what we are all about
MOONBEAMSWD
Thank you MWD, just been in Tokyo so some new stuff to go up there when I get through it:))
NeveraffCQN:)))
BIG PACKY
Sounds like a member of your family is under attack.
Deal with it.
Listening to the genius of Oxford University graduates now. My second favourite band to The Clash. A heavily influenced by Pink Floyd bit of genius.
https://youtu.be/3M_Gg1xAHE4