30 years on: “Football is nothing without fans”

Today’s charity match marked the 30th anniversary of the death of Celtic legend Jock Stein, who passed away on September 10th 1985.

A man who managed Celtic for 13 years guiding them to 10 league titles, eight Scottish Cups and six League Cup triumphs, as well as the greatest triumph of all, the 1967 European Cup final win over Inter Milan.

But 30 years on, has the Celtic board lost touch with the infamous words “Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing” from Jock Stein?

At a time when Premier League television deals are in excess of £5 billion, the Scottish game has to adapt to the idea of not being able to outright compete with these teams in the transfer market.

There was a time when top players did choose the Scottish game over a team down south or even the European elites, but that was almost 20 years ago. Times have changed and we have to adjust to that as fans.

Since the turn of the century, the average attendance at Paradise for league games has fallen from 59,370 to just 44,585 last season in 19 games. A number of things cumulated have led to this.

Celtic have taken note as they revealed back in April that they would reduce the average season book for this current season to the same as 10 years ago. It was the third consecutive year they have offered reduced price tickets – rewarding Hoops fans continued support.

The reduced level of competition has also reduced the numbers going through the turnstiles. Rangers demise after the 2011/12 season has made the league a one horse race. Only Aberdeen have capitalised on the loss of one of Scotland’s two big teams but are still some way off Celtic over the course of a 38 game season.

Attracting big names can boost season ticket sales and merchandise sales as Stoke City seen after signing Xherdan Shaqiri from Inter Milan. News of his signature led to fans flooding to buy season tickets and get Shaqiri-printed ‘22’ shirts.

The Swiss winger lined up for Milan last season against Celtic in the last-32 of the Europa League, scoring a vital early away goal and played every minute of the two legs.

Celtic’s problem is that he is being paid £65,000 a week at Stoke City and they refuse to sign players on those kinds of wages.

To keep fans interested, the team have to win, perform well and have that one magical player. Players like Lubo Moravcik, Henrik Larsson or Shunsuke Nakamura have had Celtic fans in awe over the last two decades and maybe it takes that one special player to capture fans imaginations. Of course, Larsson is head and shoulders above the other two and one of Celtic’s all-time greats.

Jock Stein famously said: “Celtic jerseys are not for second best, they don’t shrink to fit inferior players.” It’s up to those in charge to carry on with Stein’s ethos and get players who are only big enough to fit the jersey.