OFFSET YOUR WORLD CUP TRAVEL WITH GREENERTRAVEL
Date: 16th April 2026
When fans matter
By Donald C Stewart
Full stadiums and noisy support. That’s what fans mean to many in authority. They are also the largest financial supporter of Scottish football from the top to the bottom of the entire pyramid structure. That has been proven time and time again and one of the things that fans do that corporate boxes can’t is provide atmosphere.
Now whether you look at Martin O’Neill’s welcoming back of the Green Brigade to Parkhead as a cynical ploy or a smart move doesn’t matter. The fact is, as he pointed out when they were away to Dundee, the vocal support that came from the terraces was critical in ensuring that the team felt they could win. Taking three points is increasingly important given the post-split fixtures especially as Celtic and Hearts have been given the final game of the season which could be either a title winning party for either or simply the second-place playoff. It is a fascinating season this year given that Hearts continue at the top of the table though they have stuttered recently.
Any advantage that can be gained by either Rangers or Celtic will be seized upon. Martin O’Neill, no stranger to the politics of the game, chimed in with his welcome which might also be a move on behalf of the Celtic board. Given the status that O’Neill occupies within the Celtic faithful he is an effective advocate for calm and compromise, talking of having a conversation at the end of the season between the Green Brigade and the board which seems sensible. Bringing them into the fold in the run-up is not just sensible, it’s genius.
It reminds me of my other sporting passion, boxing. In the first fight between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr., sons of the legends that are Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr., there had been huge amounts of media regarding the rift between Junior and his father Senior. On the evening of the fight, when Junior was arriving at the venue, the taxi door opened and out stepped Senior and Junior together. There was a palpable change in the atmosphere, and it is believed that Eubank’s win against Benn was enhanced exponentially by the presence of the father in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Green Brigade’s coming back to Parkhead is a similar ploy. Their vocal support will be welcomed by the Celtic team, but more than that, it’s important to remember that fans are the very lifeblood of our sport. They don’t just provide atmosphere, they provide finance. They provide expertise. They provide volunteers. They have presence. That presence brings people through the turnstiles. Those people through the turnstiles give opportunity to sell sponsorship, corporate boxes and an atmosphere second to none.
In the run up to the end of the season, most neutrals are hoping that the Jambos do it. They hope that the stranglehold on Scottish football’s premiership shall be broken after four decades by the Gorgie side. All perhaps, apart from Hibs fans, will be screaming and bawling and shouting that they get to the end of this season and are crowned champions. But no matter what happens, that very sentence, that they shall be crowned champions, means that there is a supporter somewhere that’s going to be jumping in joy.
That it might not be wearing a Celtic or a Rangers scarf is to be celebrated. But we should not denigrate the supporters of either Glasgow clubs. They have the right to hope too.
Without supporters, according to Jock Stein, football was nothing. And that is certainly true as much today, where the corporate ticket prices seem to be strangling the sport away from working class roots. The power of the fan base should be recognised, and more importantly, given the value it deserves, because without it, football simply is nothing.
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Tags: Celtic, Fan Led Review, fans, fans blogs, oor Donald, Scottish football