letters 109

tickets please

Dear NTV,

I am writing to vent my anger and disgust at the way the away ticket allocation is handled at Celtic Park, particularly the way it is heavily weighted towards the 'Investors Club'. I fear this policy of handing a high percentage - if not all - of away tickets to investors is in danger of causing a division between supporters of our club.

What constitutes an 'Investor' in Celtic Football Club? Is it those supporters who turn up at home games in the 'Investors' heated seats - end of story? Or is it the families with 2, 3 or 4 season tickets in the household who travel home and away, buy the merchandise, do the tour etc., etc. I think you may find these supporters put as much, if not more, into OUR club as those in the heated seats.

There are supporters in the stands who have travelled to EVERY away European tie during this campaign, and who will now NOT be given the opportunity to continue this at Liverpool. The Investors Club, like all supporters, should be given a fair share of tickets. ONE ticket per investor is fair, no more and no less. A guaranteed ticket per Investor Club member is more than the other supporters are guaranteed - as fair a deal as you could want I think.

Strangely, as a supporters club we have had full buses for Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds, with full allocation of tickets over the past few years. But then they were only Testimonials!

It's time to get fair with the tickets - equal allocation for supporters clubs and individuals. The feeling on the stands is that we are getting a raw deal, and although I could never condone the action, voting with our feet was mentioned by more than a few. I think this is a debate long overdue. Let's get a fair deal for the real travelling supporters.

RAYMUND McGRATH,
Clydebank.

rallying cry

Dear Not the View,

I would like to endorse 100% the statement(s) made by Eddie Toner in the Celtic View with regards the non-appearance of the Celtic FC first team squad at the above event for the second year in succession. While the main entertainment of the evening was provided by those on the stage, there were supporters of all ages - some who attend matches and some who don't - whose finances dictate that, at a very reasonable £10.00, this was their best and, in some cases, only opportunity of getting close of their heroes. Their best chance of getting an autograph or to say 'thank you' for the success achieved over the past two seasons.

This year's guest of honour, Paul Lambert, was appreciated by the supporters and accepted his presentation with great honour. He represents Celtic magnificently both on and off the pitch. Thank you Paul.

Last year, for all Lubo was a fabulous footballer, his non-appearance as Guest of Honour was a huge let down for the full house who turned up to see him.

I hope, as been stated in the daily rags, Martin O'Neill will look into this situation and rectify it.

Anyway, here's hoping we can continue to enjoy success both domestically and in the European arena.

CLARE M
by e-mail

seasons to be cheerful?

Dear NTV,

It's getting to that time of the year when we start to wonder what price our season tickets will be next season. We can only hope that the board will have noted the lower attendances this season and, at worst, keep the cost of season tickets at the current level. The increase in prices last season led to many supporters not renewing. The much hyped season ticket waiting list took up most of the slack. Interestingly, however, there were still season tickets available after the season had started which would imply that the waiting list was never as large as the club had oft hinted.

Crowds are down this season. League gates are a couple of thousand lower, on average, than the last couple of seasons. Price must be a factor in this. As well as paying for season tickets we have also had to fork out for home games in the CIS and Scottish Cups as well as European ties against Blackburn, Celta Vigo and Stuttgart. That is well in excess of another £100.00 that ordinary supporters have had to pay, over and above the cost of their season ticket. The CIS semi final attendance against Dundee Utd of 18,556 was the lowest for a semi final involving one of the Old Firm since 1960.

Another factor in the lower crowds must be the fact that we have played so few home league games on a Saturday. I make it that we have only played five home league games on a Saturday this season - nine have been played on Sundays or midweek. Indeed since the league match against Kilmarnock on Saturday the 28th September we have had only one other home league game on a Saturday - the match against Dundee on 21st December.

Add the above to the poor quality of fare on offer in the SPL and an increase in the cost of season tickets might be counter productive. More money might be taken selling 50,000 at current prices rather than 40,000 at higher prices. With so many games being live on TV (and being moved to accommodate TV) supporters might view an increase in season ticket prices as a step too far. Why fork out good money to the club when you can watch the game cheaper in the pub or at home?

Rather than increase or even freeze the cost of next season's season tickets the board could take the plunge and thank the support for their backing over the last few years by cutting the price of every season ticket. If you reduced every one of the 50,000 season tickets by £20.00 it would cost the club £1 million. Put in the context of a turnover of over £50 million that's not much. It would be the equivalent of less than 2% of the club's turnover.

Never mind the cost, think of the positive message such a move would send out. The goodwill such a move would engender among the support might even make us believe that we were not being taken for granted.

Yours in the Hoops,
MARK McCLUSKEY
Edinburgh

Scouting System

Dear NTV,

The Celtic View a few weeks ago proudly gave over three pages to our new, all- singing, all-dancing scouting system. Very professional it all sounds too. But before we all get carried away with dreams of a new generation of Quality Street Kids like Dalglish, McGrain, Hay, Connolly and Macari coming through, I'd like to just pause for a second and consider the facts.

Anyone like myself, who also supports Scotland, can see that for the last 10-15 years this country has hardly produced any youngsters good enough to compete at international level. The result is that we have the worst national team in our history. Lest you scoff, take one look at the current team and ask who in it would have got a game for Scotland 20 years ago. Answer, nobody.

I would hope therefore that this new Celtic scouting network will also look at young players in other countries. Why can we not have a scout in Australia to enable us to sign the next Harry Kewell? Football is booming in North America. Will we have someone in place to identify the young talent across the pond? Why should Bayern Munich and not Celtic sign the next Owen Hargreaves? Do we have contacts in Eastern Europe who can identify the next Hagi, Stoichkov or indeed, Petrov? Other European clubs have full time scouts in Africa and South America. Do we? If not, why not?

Teams of a similar status to Celtic, such as Ajax, Monaco and Auxerre regularly bring through young talent from these continents. If they can do it then we can do it. By all means invest in a quality scouting network but make it Worldwide. The days of Scotland producing enough talented youngsters have gone, probably for ever. Until about 15-20 years ago every top team in England had a nucleus of three or four Scottish born players. Nowadays you'd be hard pushed to name three or four Scottish born players playing regularly in the entire English League!

Yours with a tanner ba'
JINKY JIMMY KIRWAN
by e-mail

thrust and parry

Dear NTV,

Please stop calling Mike Parry, Allan Parry. The Parry to whom you keep referring is Mike (an ex tabloid journo, not the commentator). He does the no nonsense sport thingy in the morning with Alan Brazil. 06:00 to 10:00, 1089 and 1053 am, rather good and quite Celtic friendly. Hardly ever mentions TFOD.

Yours,
RIK
by e-mail

daily record tips

Dear NTV,

With regard to your series of tips on how to use up the vast piles of unsold Daily Records presently cluttering up newsagents, perhaps if cash strapped Motherwell used all the unsold Daily Records as a pitch cover to protect it from frost then there would be no need for them to call games off. A layer of 8 papers high covering the full pitch would do the job better than any woolly blanket or undersoil heating system. When the newspapers are lifted prior to kickoff cash-strapped Motherwell could use some as shin pads for their poorly paid players and the remainder could be used as wrapping for their pies, as old newspaper is cheaper than tin foil.

Yours faithfully,
ENGELBERT HUNSDOSTINK
Inch Murrin
Loch Lomond.

Boycott the record

Sir,

Just a short note you might enjoy reading. The Daily Record can no longer be purchased on the rock of Gibraltar due to the efforts of the local CSC boycotting it. The local Celtic bar is The Three Roses which is located behind the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned, on Main St. If you are ever on a trip you know where to go!

JIMMY GILLAN
Glasgow