Celtic Fan Survey finally released over a year on as ‘significant’ safe standing demand addressed

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It’s been a hectic week for Celtic, to say the least.

The shock resignation of Brendan Rodgers on Monday took Scottish football by storm, with many expecting him to see out the remainder of his initial three-year contract.

His departure paved the way for the stunning return of Martin O’Neill on an interim basis, and the Hoops legend got off to a perfect start with Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Falkirk.

But perhaps the biggest surprise of the week has been the incredible Dermot Desmond statement which hammered Rodgers for being ‘divisive’ and ‘self-serving’.

With the noise surrounding the club, it’s quite the timing for the Hoops to finally release the results of their 2024 fan survey – and the results are fascinating.

Celtic release results of fan survey after over a year

The survey covered a wide variety of topics, including ticketing, stadium catering, and, of course, fan engagement.

It’s fair to say that many Hoops fans have had their trust in the club significantly damaged (if it wasn’t already) after the recent disputes between the club and the Celtic Fans Collective.

READ MORE: What Gordon Dalziel was told about Brendan Rodgers visiting Lennoxtown on his last day at Celtic

The survey, released on the Celtic website, addresses these topics in summary bullet points, but the whole report can be accessed on a PDF file.

The main bullet points addressed by the club are as follows:

• “With a significant number of fans surveyed saying they would be interested in moving to use ‘safe-standing’ at matches, the club has already begun work on reviewing feasibility, options available, and establishing a consultation process and working group on this matter, with further news to follow.”
• “We have seen a clear desire from supporters for improved fan engagement and the Club has commenced a review and development of our supporter engagement processes.”
• “On digital development and fans’ views on improving digital accessibility, the creation of Celtic’s club app is already well underway, with huge benefits set to be delivered following its launch soon. In addition, we will be launching a brand new Celtic TV channel at the start of next season, and work is ongoing to review options for a Club membership scheme.”
• “We have noted that stadium catering has been highlighted as an area of improvement for a number of supporters and we have engaged with our providers in order to review the services available and we will be carrying out further work with supporters to seek to achieve improvements in this important area.”
• “And with nearly 60% of supporters saying they would use public transport to travel to matches if it was improved, Celtic is seeking to engage in discussions with Glasgow City Council and other stakeholders to try and drive issues of accessibility and transport infrastructure forward for the benefit of all our fans.”

So an awful lot of commitments, but not a lot of answers. The idea of a club membership scheme may sound daunting to anyone who is familiar with the implementation of this various Premier League clubs.

The safe standing comments are clearly in reference to ‘The Celtic End’, which is a long-term goal of the club’s main in-stadium fan groups. Will this go to a vote among the support? It will be interesting to see how Celtic handle this.

And stadium catering needing to improve is no surprise to anyone. But every one of these commitments is layered with filibuster and vague language.

The launch of a new Celtic TV channel will be fascinating – there’s no doubt that the current channel could do with some new pundits.