Pre-season tours are often the source of much controversy and frequently split a usually united Celtic support. Some believe that it is important to expand our brand and thank our global fanbase, while others believe the travel has a negative impact on our early season.
The Celtic support should be proud that our club is frequently cherry-picked to join the world’s elite clubs in “glamour” tournaments. In recent years we’ve played not only the world’s best football sides, but also some of the world’s largest sporting brands. Arsenal, Manchester Utd, Chelsea and Man City are particularly popular in North America due to the extensive television coverage. Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan and Inter also have huge followings due to their success and big spending.
While flattering to be placed among the giants of world football, it could be argued that Madrid and Man Utd don’t play in early summer Champions League qualifiers. The very same qualifiers that make or break Celtic’s season financially.
Such tournaments could help with fitness, however in recent seasons managers and players alike have complained about the travel and wear.
It would be impossible to argue that a game against Real Madrid could ever be used as a “warm up”. It is also equally impossible for a manager to be expected to play a shadow side against the likes of Madrid.
While previous regimes have taken pre-season exhibition games very lightly, it is doubtful that a competitor like Neil Lennon would do similar. Lennon is smart enough to value the importance of a good showing and competitive enough to understand the meaning of scalping one of Europe’s best.
Critics would be quick to suggest that having to compete in such games pulls our focus away from the task in hand. Although Lennon has a strong squad for the SPL, European football is most definitely a step up. Our strongest team will definitely be needed to qualify, the same team who Lennon will probably play against Madrid.
With such risk being apparent, Celtic must make the most of playing such glamour games and use such tours as a tool to expand the Celtic brand globally. The question is; how do we do that? To do this we firstly need to know where our support stands globally.
The size of our support abroad
I’ve travelled all over the world due to my work in Media. I frequently play the game of “spot the Celtic shirt”. On a recent (14 stop) round-the-world trip I spotted a Celtic jersey in every country except one. The number of Celtic jerseys is often out shadowed by the number of Chelsea and Man Utd. There is however one large difference. When I prompt a fan as to why they support Man Utd or Chelsea, they’d simply say “Rooney” or “Drogba”. Why not?
These teams currently have the best players. When asking the Celtic fan why he supports Celtic, a passionate essay of an answer was unleashed with gusto. The history of the club is usually known with great detail. The Celtic fans speak of something that is more than a franchise to him.
In truth we must admit that the most supported sides in the world are; Real, Barca and the Premiership. The vast majority of these seem to be plastic fans that can change allegiance. The global support of Celtic appears to be the most authentic and definitely the most passionate.
Any smart Celtic fan is aware of our support in; Australia, New Zealand, Canada and most particularly the USA. Two of our best fan podcasts come from the Bhoys at Lostbhoys and Beyond the Waves.
Clearly such supporters clubs are ridiculously passionate about football and feel a strong link to Glasgow Celtic. A strong link and connection that would probably appeal to a large section of other North American’s if they were properly exposed to the club.
Currently such supporters are turning to Arsenal and Manchester Utd as an avenue to enjoy and support “Soccer”. While it could be argued that this is because the EPL is a much superior league to the SPL, the main reason for this is the exposure and ability to market the EPL.
If you’ve lived in the USA you’ll know the one thing American sports fans love is a winner. Celtic is a winning team. We have been a winning team since Fergus McCann. We win the vast majority of our games and will always compete for the title. It’s easy to support a favourite. This is a huge selling point.
The USA is a massive untapped market with; a HUGE Irish and Scottish community, a love of a winner and a recently born excitement for all things “Soccer”. Surely this is a massive opportunity for a club like Celtic to steal swing-voting fans from under the noses of Real, Barca and the EPL. The question is…. In a lesser league how to we do this?
Tomorrow- JJ looks at the power of television and merchandising
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Why not join the MLS ? We’re always talking about moving elsewhere and we’d be welcomed with open arms. The TV revenue is potentially huge and room to expend our overseas fan base. I’d love a few trips to the US over the season rather than the exotic heights of wintry Scotland. Logistics is a problem but the US and Canadian teams already travel quite a bit and of course there’s the European competition element.
the new Gerard Butler film will give us a wee bit of exposure, apparently he’s a good-looking guy and “soccer” is big with the girls and ladies of north America.
I’d like to think we can make a favourable impression to help attract more fans. However the simple logistics are heavily weighted against us in this game. We will barely have time to acclimatise, while Madrid will have enjoyed several weeks playing / training in the USA.
Our whistle stop tour is obviously required due to our fixtures and must be a money spinner for the club. But I can’t help but feel it will have a detrimental effect on those who support the club. We won’t have time to enjoy, relax and meet the fans some of whom will still travel 00s / 000s of miles to see a friendly. Hopefully we are able to put up a decent show and try to use the game as a learning experience for future euro games ahead.
Madrid are a class above anything we have played in recent years. I can’t see us joining the MLS, the Americans are still trying very hard to establish soccer in the USA but I can forsee a European league in the not too distant future…we could / should be involved and very interested. Jetting about mainland Europe is easier than bus trips up north.
There is no doubt in my mind that a European League is the way to go for Celtic.It is fairly obvious that the minnows in the EPL and most of them are exactly that, will never accept a team of Celtic”s magnitude ,world support and world stature into the EPL.
I beleive that games like this game on Saturday are a strain on our club ,but this is a young team that will benefit from this exposure and as has been said we need to play our best and to be seen to be competitive. The big drawback to this game is the timing as regards to qualifying for the Champions League.
However it is only by playing the best will our players ,who have shown they have the potential, will fulfill that potential and give Celtic the standing in Europe they have had in the past.
Stay tuned for the second half of my blog which should be online today!
I live in southern California with Rangers out the question why should I pay for coverage starting at 4am in the morning to play inver cali, and is it too much to put the time of the game on the screen thats like bulgaria circa 1954