Celtic FC have insulted their most loyal fans by telling them that unless they travel to away games by bus they will not be recognised as supporters or as a Celtic supporters club. Celtic's shake up of their ticketing arrangements has been done in conjunction with the new swipe card system for home games and the club has seen the timing of the new card system as a way to integrate all their ticketing arrangements including those for their away support.
Some clubs belonging to the Affiliation of Registered Celtic supporters clubs have been slapped in the face by Celtic and this has caused anger amongst the rest of the Celtic faithful. Two clubs in particular whose ticket allocation was only four and eight tickets respectively decided that it wasn't feasable to run a bus for just such small numbers arranged car sharing for their members and it is these clubs in particular who have suffered. Celtic have stated to the affiliation that unless you travel to games by (bus only) you will not be recognised as a Bonafide Celtic supporter and you will not be given your away ticket allocation.
Despite a barrage of phone calls to John Paul Taylor at the Celtic ticket office none of which were returned the situation is still the same, If you travel to away games by any means other than bus you arent a "Bonafide Celtic supporter".
The Affiliation Of Celtic Supporters clubs has been unable to help their members in this matter and has been powerless to protect their members interests. The secretary of one of the supporters clubs involved commented " It's a slap in the face for the Celtic support, Our members travelled to every away game and have even arranged to go to the friendlies in America next month. We only took 4 tickets as we did not want to appear to be greedy and this was despite putting in a dozen season book numbers from our core of travelling supporters who attend every away game. How can you go by bus when you only have an allocation of 4 tickets? We all know that the reasoning behind this is that Celtic make more money from selling the tickets for corporate hospitality and Celtic for a long time now have been selling packages for the away games at Ibrox to anyone who pays £120 a time for them. These tickets should be going to the loyal fans and Celtic are grabbing back away tickets so that they can pass them on to the corporate section which makes a bigger profit . It is shameful that the club you support treats you in such a way and the ticket office go into hiding when you try to contact them. The affiliation is basically ran by a couple of guys and they dont have meetings and are not accountable to their members so if the guys that run it decide they cant be bothered with your problem their is nothing you can do"
This is just the start of the Celtic corporate machine clawing back tickets and it is thought that away fans will be counted as they come off their bus so that Celtic can cut ticket allocations and claw back more tickets to sell to the lucrative corporate hospitality market.
AMMENDMENT
Celtic FC have responded to our article and have responded in the timely and professional manner that we expect from our club..
Celtic FC have at no time ever said or insinuated that fans travelling to away games by their own means would not be classed as Bonafide Celtic supporters. The Affiliation Of Celtic Supporters clubs have decided off their own back that they do not want to give tickets to certain clubs and this has nothing to do with Celtic fc but is purely a decision of the affiliation.
Celtic ticket service manager John Paul Taylor is on holiday at the moment but has phoned us direct and has sorted out ticket allocations for the supporters clubs involved. Jack Kennedy the media and PR manager for Cybertims CSC said " We should be able to trust a supporters group like the affiliation to sort out our ticket allocation. We joined the affiliation before they even discussed a ticket allocation with Celtic and it was the affiliation who approached US and asked us how many tickets we required. The affiliation told us by email that it was Celtic FC who were changing the ticketing policy and due to possible changes being made we would be informed of these changes after a meeting between Celtic and the affiliation took place around the 19th June. We have had no correspondence from the affiliation who seem to have forgotten about us.
The affiliation do tend to forget about us a lot especially when we are standing outside Ibrox waiting to meet them to collect our tickets and they don't turn up (with our tickets no doubt going elsewhere) . Our dealings with the affiliation so far have been less than satisfactory and for them to blame Celtic FC for changing their ticketing policy is just not acceptable. We would like to thank Celtic FC and John Paul Taylor in particular for their fast and professional response and Celtic are aware that as a supporters club we have to take what the affiliation say to us regarding Celtic's ticket plans as the truth. Communications between the affiliation and (well everyone) seem to be of very low quality and the Cybertims CSC have sent a letter of resignation along with our best wishes for the future.
After talking to Celtic FC and clarifying the matter we now realise that it is the affiliation that are intending to keep or refuse our ticket allocation which is very strange after offering it in the first place and it is NOT the fault of Celtic FC. The Club has in fact INCREASED its ticket allocation to the travelling supporters by agreeing a ticket scheme with the affiliation and this should mean in theory at least that many more Celtic fans can travel to away games (if the affiliation likes your face). Unlike the Very professional Celtic supporters association which has checks and balances in position to ensure fairness and who truly are democratic in their allocations the affiliation does not have meetings and the decision makers cannot be forced out. The affiliation can give tickets to whoever they like and they are not responsible to their members and they do not have to answer to their members if asked where the tickets go to. The affiliation in fact can do what they like regarding tickets and this is not the way a supporters body should be run. We are sure the affiliation has the best interests of the Celtic supporters at heart but until they become accountable for their actions it is very surprising that Celtic FC allow them to represent anyone".