What constitutes a bona-fide Celtic fan

I suspect this won’t be a popular opinion- but I stress- it is only an opinion. I do believe you can differentiate between Celtic ‘supporters’ and Celtic ‘fans’.

‘Supporters’ for me are those people who live across the globe and stay up/wake up at ungodly hours to watch (or listen to) Celtic games, whether they’re playing against a pub team or a Champions League team. People who travel hours on buses, ferries, trains and planes from across Ireland, the Scottish highlands and islands and southern England to attend as many games money/family/work etc permit them. They’re season-ticket holders who sometimes pay small fortunes following Celtic home and away whether the team are winning or losing.

Celtic ‘fans’ on the other hand, are those who like to see Celtic doing well. The type that cites ‘financial’ reasons for not going to games against Inverness, St Mirren and Hamilton etc but when a game against the old Rangers or a big European night crops up they’re busting a gut for a ticket. Those who can afford to go to games, live within a manageable radius of Parkhead but can’t be bothered with the hour journey or the * rain. Those who don’t go to games but think they’re in a position to dictate to those people who do attend how they should act and what they should or shouldn’t sing. People who look out for results and watch the occasional match, but take no active interest in reading up on the history or traditions of the club and supporters.

Clearly I’m generalising and there are exceptions to what I'm saying...but at the end of the day it is just an opinion.

 

I can see your point of view on this mate but of course, disagree.

A Celtic supporter is a Celtic supporter, regardless of how dedicated they may or may not be.

I have been to less than 10 games in my entire 26 year history but i haven't missed a game in a little over 4 years now. (Not a single game missed, i've always found a way of seeing it.) But i find it quite disappointing that you are judging a fan by the amount of cash they generate for the club, that's a pretty cynical view of the world lol.

I give as much as i can to my club, when i can afford it. Life is tough, the economy is * and the working man's pound is being stretched tighter than 3 coats of paint, but i'll still fork out a small fortune during the course of the season just by visiting the Celtic stores for family / friends birthdays and Christmas presents etc.

I don't believe for a second that there is a difference between Supporter and Fan, the only difference being that they are two different words meaning the same thing:- A person who will do whatever they can to help our club within the limits of their lifestyle.

So to summarise, A Celtic fan/supporter are those who have that glorious feeling anytime the topic Celtic pops up from a strangers mouth. When they see the team run out of the tunnel. When they hear the 50,000 odd Celtic fans within the Stadia belting out You'll Never Walk Alone.

We may all be on different levels of helping the club fiscally but in the end this doesn't even come into it for me.

Hail hail.

 

I get what your saying, your maybe right.

Especially the bit about "supporters", going no matter who it is or where and "fans" who will turn up for the big occasions.

For example, we can probably safely say we have 40,000-45,000 season ticket holding "supporters" who'll always be there no matter what. But if we for example signed Michael Ciani, Michael Dawson, Scott Sinclair, Adam Johnson, Kevin Mirallas and Jordan Rhodes, youd probably get 10,000-15,00 of the "fans" type wanting a season ticket because theres been very good quality bought and £40million spent that otherwise will just turn up for big games.

 

I dont think he was basing it on the money or anything.

I think his point was there are supporters, ie. They can afford whatever they can and they give whatever the can, wether that be a season ticket or 2 games a season.

Then there are fans, ie. They could get a season ticket, they have the money but unless they think they are going to get "value for money" they wont get a season ticket or go to many games. Instead they will just go to all the big games.

 

couldn't agree more.

anyone who feels pain through the bad times are supporters of the club.

 

I wasn't really commenting on what the man said bud, i was more stating my own opinion of what i believe makes a supporter.

But i commented on the financial part as and how i understood the comment lol.

 

I'm sorry I didn't make it clear enough- but that is the exactly the point (the bolded part) I was trying to make. I'am not judging a supporter by the amount of cash they generate for the club. I was trying to distinguish between people like yourself who (when money/family/work etc allows them) actually try their best to go to games, against the people who can afford to go- but choose not to.

Using the terms 'supporter' or 'fan' was just a simple way for me to try and demostrate what I was meaning. I don't actually tend to use them in that way...if that makes sense?!

 

You've basically said it for me...in a far better and more succinct way.

 

I get to about 3 home games and 1 away on average a season but never miss a game on t.v no matter what. Example, I usually stay out till 5am on Fridays but get up at 11am on a Saturday morning and get the Tube to Kilburn to watch us away at Inverness. I make tiny sacrifices. But i would never compare myself to a fan who goes Home and Away every week and definitely couldn't even come close to the guys who manage to get visa's to Russia within 10 days notice

 

Just because someone mentions how many games they may go to or how they support Celtic on a match day from the stands, doesn't mean they are claiming to be a better supporter than anyone else. Supporting Celtic by attending, supporting vocally and financially is something to be proud of. I've yet to hear anyone claim they are a better supporter than any other though.

Totally sums it up.

A Celtic supporter is someone that feels the jubilation or heart-break on a match day.

 

There is just something inside us all that makes us celtic supporters/fans. HH

 

Very good point. Noticed this myself from going every week to now watching most games on the TV. The perspective you get when you are at the match and can see everything is worlds apart from the TV. You certainly see who is working hard for the team, doing all the donkey work to let the others play.

 

Very simple:

If you can name atleast half of the squad at that present moment (even if just by surname), you have Celtic on your mind on a weekly basis, it truly affects your life in times of euphoric victory or desolate defeat and if the sight of 50,000 of your comrades singing YNWA in unison gives you a lump in the back of your throat whether you stand alongside people that are white, black, gay, straight, atheist, religious or any possible method of determining the slightest variation of human difference, but treating each in that very day or night as your equal whether live at the game, in someone's home or in a pub. That is being a Celtic supporter.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AhzPihLlKk"]Original: Greatest Arsenal Fan - YouTube[/ame]


Take a look at this video.

Although I can guess the general consensus on here, is this man an Arsenal fan? Is he, like I argue, just falling for brand recognition?

How can he be considered an Arsenal fan? He clearly hasn't been to a match, isn't from London and has no connection with North London. If Arsenal weren't a "successful" side he wouldn't be interested in them.

He would get the same saatisfaction from following his local side or, if they have one, his family side. So he should, in my opinion, be encouraged to put as much enthusiasm into supporting a side who need more supporters.

So, what makes a true Celtic fan. If you or your family have no connection to Glasgow then what right do you have to claim the success of a Glasgow team? (My father's side have proud Glasgow heritage btw). There are plenty of football sides in your local area and the fact that you have opted not to support one of them so you can "support" a big club with a history of success suggests, to me, that there is something lacking in your life that you need to compensate by jumping on the pride of a club from an area you have no association with to make yourseld feel better.

And, to me, all this "providing you want Celtic to win, you're Celtic" talk is bollocks. In my part of London we have a lot of immigrants who have just started to "support" Manchester City when I know for a fact that a lot of them used to wear Arsenal shirts AND a few of them Blackburn ones as well in the 1990s. To even suggest that they are real supporters is ludicrous.

 

Yay, LeeMc is back talking as much * as ever. So because your da was from Glasgow you have more right to support Celtic than someone, say from Falkirk ?

 

I have offered an opinion which is there to be debated in an * manner.

You don't have to agree to it but any more crappy PMs from you and I'll report you. YOU are the one breaking site rules.

 

So you prefer to dodge my questions in other words ? Guys on here from North of Scotland, England and Ireland who are season ticket holders, spend a fortune following Celtic, and you are telling them they are not real fans ?

PM me hunni

 

The answer is simple - someone who supports celtic, you dont need to attend 100s of matches, its nothing to do with age, its nothing to do with where you come from or where you stay, its nothing to do with religion or faith, and its nothing to do with believing everything that you are told by the club, because you have the right to criticise and its nothing to do about having shares.

Anyone can support the celtic.

 

No it's not.

This is a question that fans of all small and unsuccessful clubs throughout the U.K. ask.

Why, for example, should someone who lives in Peterborough be considered a Manchester United fan without any connection to the area when Peterborough United are on his doorstep?

Football has always been about local pride and it should always remain so.

 

I live in glasgow, have some disposable income and choose not to spend it an a season ticket.

I'll attend 5-6 home games and 1-2 away games during the season plus I'll buy CL tickets if I can get them.

I consider myself a real fan. As I would if I didn't go to any games.