Glasgow City Council predatory act on Celtic fans

There are a few takeaways from Saturday’s straightforward win over Airdrie in the Scottish Cup.  We are still missing penalty kicks.  Those of us who were around last time we met Valencia in 2001 have a nervous reaction at the thought of facing the same side later this month, where the outcome could again be determined from 12 yards.

It is a while since we last failed to win a domestic trophy, but on that occasion we exited the Scottish Cup on a penalty kick competition.  This remains the most likely chance anyone has of denying Celtic a trophy and should be regarded as a priority at training.  We have a month before the second leg against Valencia, let’s be prepared.

Scott Sinclair should have had a hat-trick.  His penalty miss was followed by a chance from inside the six yard box before an open goal.  This was an identikit of the chance Kris Ajer missed late in the game against Salzburg – a knee-high cross is met but the player cannot keep the ball down.  Poor technique, but this outcome is common, so it is not as bad a miss as it looks.

With the outcome settled, the North Stand assistant referee raised his flag to deny Scott, despite two Airdrie defenders playing him onsite.  There was nothing malicious in this, it was just rank bad officiating and a timely reminder that our game is not run in a sufficiently competent manner.

It feels churlish to complain after winning 3-0 but you know a similar decision is likely to cost us next time.

Oliver Burke didn’t look like a centre forward (which he is not).  Timothy Weah did.  His movement marked him out even before his cool finish.  He will do well in Glasgow.

Glasgow City Council are trying to make it very difficult for most of us to get to Celtic Park in future.  They have proposed a 1 mile parking exclusion zone around the stadium.  This means the nearest you will be able to park is 1 mile away, the majority of us will have significantly farther to walk to and from the game.  If you approach the stadium from the east along London Road, this means the nearest car will be able to park at the entrance to St Peter’s Cemetery.

A few points on this:

Celtic Park is not catered for by public transport on match days in anything like the volumes required to remove thousands of people from the area.

Despite this, Glasgow City Council insist that fans must use public transport to attend Celtic Park after they remove parking facilities.

They have refused to offer any explanation as to how this could be achieved, or to facilitate additional public transport.

Forcing people to walk many miles to and from Celtic Park will only displace parking problems to a different area of the city.

It will mean people have to arrive at their parking spot up to an hour earlier and will reach their cars after the game an hour later than is currently the case – increasing the on-street parking burden for a new set of residents.

After Friday, it will be too late to object.  You have until 5pm on 25 January to email:

saferparking-celticpark@glasgow.gov.uk

…advising the Council that their plans are inappropriate and will cause significant problems to you, other road users and residents.

Other stadiums in the city are served by public transport, including underground stations.  This is a predatory attack on people attending Celtic Park, please consider objecting before it is too late.