Neil Atkinson and Gareth Roberts speak to Kev Connolly of Celtic’s Green Brigade about Celtic Park’s safe standing section, which was introduced this season.
With support growing among Liverpool fans for something similar at Anfield, the three discuss the problems with the current set up, the difference it has made at Celtic and how things could move forward south of the border.
Given the subject matter of the discussion we have decided to release the show for free.
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Direct: Midnight Caller: Safe Standing – Celtic Now, Anfield Next?
Good one that lads, thanks. Too far gone down the road into owlarsedom me, I’d be fucked before we get 20 mins in but I can still remember when me back could take standing.
For 95% of this it was an enjoyable listen.. but the other 5% was a huge frustration. I have zero bias for or against any of the Glasgow clubs, so this does not come from anything other than an objective viewpoint that was hoping this interview would move beyond a fairly myopic view of fan culture and a shared desire for safe standing. The latter I’m in agreement with. The former I don’t buy and, precisley because I don’t know the answers and the fella might well have been able to give really good answers that I’d have appreciated hearing, given this was about fan culture (the key ingredient in seeking standing) why not ask him…
– why adopt the moniker of ‘ultras’? It’s almost always entirely associated with, say, Italian fascism brand of ultras or simply an undercurrent of hooliganism. related to this…
– Celtic has not had a great rep supporters wise for a variety of incidents that have seen the club fined – these lads have been grouped since 2006. That’s 10 years of working with the club at a time when the club has repeatedly faced UEFA fines and sanctions for the behaviour of its fans. Given that it came across that the club and these lads were working together on the safe standing I’d have been genuinely intrigued to know if this section of the crowd is most keenly associated with the section that is the cause of these incidents, or if they are actually trying to work with the club to address them. Again, I genuinely don’t know the answer. It’s a 100% open and honest question.
It could be said that the podcast was about safe standing and not addressing these, but one argument against standing is that it attracts an undercurrent that will cause trouble… if there is a causal link then it makes a strong case to keep the seats (at the very least that’s part of the debate that could be had that I appreciate is difficult when everyone at TAW supports standing.. and so maybe worth exploring further if the conversation raises its head again?)
Like I said, the fella genuinely might have given great answers to these questions… but it would have been good to press on it a bit more..