letters 127

Dear NTV,

As I sit here picking through the wreckage of another crappy away defeat in the Champions League I'm beginning to wonder how much more of this I can take.

The reason we lost against Milan on Wednesday night was plain and simple - we weren't good enough. Football lasts 93/94 minutes these days and if you can't defend for all of them you will loose.

Am I the only Tim who's sick of being a gallant loser? I said to my friends after the UEFA Cup Final loss, 'if MON is given £10-15 million we could win the European Cup'. None laughed. Some were not Celtic fans but realised we had some quality players and an excellent manager. As it turned out MON got no money, Jose Mourinho did (Benny McCarthy) and Porto won it. We went on to be gallant losers again v Munich and Lyon.

When people talk about Fergus McCann at Celtic it's a bit like the Romans in Monty Python. What did he ever do for us? Well he saved the club from extinction. (We would have been another Airdrie, folding, reforming in the bottom division and playing at Hampden full time because Celtic Park would have gone to pay debts. Celtic United anyone?) But above all he spent his own money on debts, the stadium, quality players. Yes he eventually had the share issue money but a lot of what he spent was his, and he underwrote that as well!

He did some things wrong, yes, but name a chairman who doesn't? Some Chelsea fans don't like Abramovich! Yet McCann's name is mud in some peoples' eyes, he was roundly booed on Flag Day and had to slip out the back door when he left.

Which brings me to my overall point I suppose. Why, when we sacked one board and hounded out the second best chairman we ever had, do we arrive like sheep every other week to watch a crumbling (injuries, Bosmans, frees) team starved of investment and allow our absentee landlord to get away scot free?

Well folks that time has ended. It's time for Desmond out. The man has tens of millions at his disposal but how much has he put into Celtic over the years? Damn all from where I'm sitting (in an expensive green seat).

The board hides behind the lack of TV money excuse. Rubbish! We've had over 20 big European games over the last couple of seasons to compensate for it. Two jerseys a season, along with DVDs (how much longer can we flog the Lions for?), scarves, books the list is endless.

And how much do we spend on the team? £350,000 on Pearson. If we the fans followed the board's policy then Celtic Park would be empty for home games. We spend probably as much as a quarter of our wages if not more following the Hoops and it's about time they did as well. If they're not prepared to do so then get out and let someone who will.

I want to follow a team that could win the European Cup again, not one of gallant losers. Yes we are hindered by our league but Portugal's and France's aren't the best either. It's about investment. I'm not saying do a Leeds Utd or an also-Ran-gers but surely £15-£20 million could be entrusted to MON.

So Celtic fans join with me at home games and chant, sack the board, Desmond out, show us your money or something. Stop being sheep and show your love and passion for the club or it's just going to be Groundhog Day for the rest of our lives. (What chance a Ronnie Simpson book or DVD released for Christmas).

Hail Hail

GARETH SAVAGE
A Celt in London

money matters

Dear NTV,

Could those Celtic supporters who use the media (and who can be more unbiased when it comes to Celtic and money than the Scottish media?) to berate the Celtic board for not releasing more money for MON to spend on players, please do economic dimwits like me a favour and say where this extra cash is to come from.

My season ticket costs £530. On top of that I have to pay another £81 for the three home Championship League games. If they want to increase admission prices could they say how much extra they want season ticket holders to pay? With 50,000 season ticket holders a £20 increase would raise an extra £1m pound. That's hardly going to buy a top quality player in today's inflated transfer market. A £100 increase would raise an extra £5m - still just 20% of the cash needed to buy Wayne Rooney. I struggle to find the cash to pay my season ticket at its current price. If they want it to increase by, say, £100 they would be pricing me out of Celtic Park. Is that what they really want to do, price poorer supporters out of the ground?

If they want the club to borrow more money could they please state how much higher they would allow the Club's debt to go - an extra £10m, an extra £20m, an extra £30m... where exactly would they draw the line? Given that banks make money by charging interest how would they suggest the club finances the repayment of this borrowed cash? What would be their answer if the bank refused to lend this extra cash? If the club borrow an extra £25m and that still doesn't buy the success we all want what then? Borrow even more and put the debt up toward Rangers and Leeds Utd levels? If (when) the bank say enough is enough how would they propose the club repay this debt?

So, a plea to all you bhoys and ghirls who are happy to criticise the board for being tight - please enlighten the rest of us as to how you would raise this extra cash.

ADAM SMITH
by e-mail

strip club

Dear NTV,

As everybody celebrates the new strip deal with Nike I can only express my absolute disgust at the exploitation of the loyalty and devotion of the Celtic fans. This deal means that when the 2005-06 season starts, Celtic will have introduced three home strips in as many seasons.

The introduction of this season's new home strip by Umbro was a blatant ploy to extract one last lucrative payday from the fans when they realised that the club would not be renewing their contract. I challenge the Celtic board and Umbro to prove otherwise.

It is a disgrace that the Celtic board have allowed Umbro to do this. It was reported in the Daily Mail in May of this year that Nike had expressed an interest in replacing Umbro when their current deal expires in June 2005. The Celtic board should have stopped the introduction of a new home strip when they were considering changing manufacturers. I'm sure most fans would agree that it was no coincidence that the Nike deal was announced only after the new strip by Umbro had gone on sale.

Once again the welfare of the supporters was ignored in the pursuit of profits. Celtic fans have paid upwards of £400 for a season ticket, £81 for Champions League tickets and many follow the team home and away. In addition to all this expenditure, families will have paid out £50 for the new home kit for their sons or daughters. Now they will be asked again at the start of next season to part with more money with the introduction of yet another home kit, but with the added expense of a new away kit and third strip as well, a huge outlay for the average supporter.

Unfortunately, with the new home kit having gone on sale at the beginning of September, any call for a boycott would be like calling for the stable door to be shut after the horse has bolted, but surely some kind of gesture of this sort would send out a warning to Nike and the Celtic board that if we act collectively we have power and that we will not stand for any more blatant exploitation of our loyalty for their profits.

They should repay our loyalty by putting our interests first rather than those of multinational sportswear companies.

MICHAEL CLANCY
Uddingston

ok to boo?

Dear NTV,

I write to you in response to the letters printed in NTV 126 from Vincent Orr and 'Prof. Tim Freud' regarding the 'booing' of Henrik Larsson in Celtic's recent CL game against Barcelona.

I am one of the supporters who 'booed' at around the time Henrik was about to come on, and I take great offence at being labelled as 'no better than the Kinning Park mob' as one letter writer put it. Have these people completely taken leave of their senses? Do they truly believe that even one single person within Celtic Park that night was booing Henrik Larsson with real bitterness and bad feeling? Anyone with even the slightest grasp on Glaswegian and Scottish humour can see that the atmosphere that was generated that night by the 'boo bhoys' was intended only to illustrate that Henrik was no longer a Celtic player, and that the important thing that night was Celtic, not Henrik Larsson, hence the immediate singing of The Celtic Song etc.

If anything, the boos he received served only to show how much respect he has gained from the Celtic supporters. What did these people expect during one of Celtic's most important football matches since their founding? A chorus of 'Henrik Larsson is the king of kings'?

Mr. Vincent Orr himself takes time in his letter to label supporters such as myself as a 'disgrace', yet then goes on to wish Henrik the success of winning the Champions League this season. Am I to believe then that he would rather see Henrik and Barcelona lift this trophy than his own beloved Celtic? I fail to see how this makes him a 'better' Celtic supporter than myself.

In my opinion, people such as Mr Orr and also Andy Walker, who wasted no time in joining the bad mouthing of Celtic fans, need to seriously get a grip on things and take things in the context that they are intended - the playful 'booing' and singing of 'Bobo's gonnae get ye' were intended as nothing but good humour. To compare this to racist, bigoted chants from 'the kinning park mob' is quite frankly pathetic and completely unjustified.

Quite apart from feeling 'ashamed of myself', I instead feel that on that night, I acted in good faith, good humour, and for the absolute best interests of Celtic Football Club. Henrik was applauded both before and after the game, and quite rightly so - I, however, retain the right to concentrate on cheering on CELTIC players during the 90 minutes in which a match is being played, as opposed to being gooey- eyed over past experiences which, on the night, are completely and utterly irrelevant.

My best wishes of course go to Henrik, but first and foremost, my support lies with Celtic Football Club, and the players who currently play for us. I only wish Mr. Vincent Orr's bad feeling was as humour based as that of the Celtic fans who booed on that night, as opposed to the apparently real contempt for fellow Celtic fans which accompanied his letter to you.

Yours in typical Scottish humour (unfortunately, it seems, only understood by some),

KENNETH McGOVERN
Glasgow

touchy subject

Dear NTV,

Emotions seem to run high whenever the touchy subject of Henrik Larsson is concerned, and perhaps it's time for a reality check.

Larsson is in many ways the perfect professional - honest in his dealings with the club, exceptional player, never in the headlines for the wrong reasons - but anyone who believed that, as 'Celtic legend', he had any particular feelings for Celtic has probably landed (hopefully on a soft pillow) by now. Like most pros he is first and foremost a mercenary and will sell his ability to whoever pays the silver coins. He gave as much to Celtic as Celtic gave to him. Celtic made him the player worthy of being chosen for yet another intergalactical team that brings about 50 supporters to Celtic Park.

The reception he got at Celtic park was remarkable for one thing, mainly that he didn't get a particular reception as 50,000 were far too busy singing the Celtic Song rather then bother themselves with a former Celtic player.

At least the man himself was philosophical and reasonable about some of the ongoings, be it by the fans or our friends in the meedja. I doubt he had a sleepless night after the game. If so then a look at his bank account surely calmed him down. He was perhaps more busy pointing out some more shortcomings of the current Celtic team to Frank Riijkaaard.

Legends are made over time, and Larsson will always have a special place in the heart of any Celtic fan; but the legend of Larsson is surely tainted by now. Then again, it was always going to happen, and he would have been hard pushed not to score- we are a charitable club after all.

It will be interesting to see the reactions should he ever be called back to draw the winning numbers for the half-time paradise windfall!

Yours in Celtic,

The Larsson-in-the-wild study group
by e-mail