As the Celtic squad departs Austria for the next pre-season phase, it’s worth reflecting on the last week and what we’ve seen from the training camp. Thankfully, we’ve been able to see quite a lot.
In fact, it feels like the Celtic in-house media crew have really upped their game this summer in an attempt to give supporters a genuine insight into how training functions in pre-season under Ange Postecoglou.
We’ve had raw footage from some of the double sessions, candid chats with Celtic squad members, interviews with the manager, talks with the captain and a general tour of the facilities.
As a long-time subscriber of Celtic TV – the UK version – it’s appreciated greatly. And frankly, it hasn’t always been the case.
Now, that’s not necessarily a criticism of choices made within the media team at Celtic. I’m well aware these pre-season trips become unique opportunities for the reporters and crew at the club to become embedded within the group and create more in-depth content with more access.
On a day to day basis throughout a busy, pressurised campaign, it’s genuinely not as easy as pointing a camera at the players and hitting the record button. Lots of time and effort has to go into the production of this stuff without stepping on the toes of the football department.
But hopefully, what we’ve seen over the last two weeks is a sign of things to come rather than just a summer fling.
It would be fantastic to get this kind of content out of Lennoxtown on a regular basis beyond the usual short training videos and sporadic, basic interviews.
Give us more original ideas and different formats for chats – such as the ‘Walk On’ video that went up today or the ‘Never Have I Ever’ feature that was popular earlier this week.
Last season did feel like a step forward all around on the media front, with unique videos involving the Japanese talent and the launch of the Japanese social media accounts, but hopefully it can go up another level again this term.
The tone of social media posts is slowly changing into something more engaging for supporters, and if they can find the right video content, Celtic’s output should become more popular than ever.
I’ve always maintained Celtic’s media department should be run as a service for supporters rather than something that is effectively run to pay for itself. The hardworking staff there should have the freedom to take advantage of the access available and really open up the club to fans.
As the theme of unity becomes ever more important under Ange Postecoglou – the efforts and skill of the Celtic media team is crucial.
If they can continue with the quality of content we’re seeing from Austria and bring that deeper into the season, that would be a fine step into the future when all of this multimedia is only going to become more and more relevant for savvy supporters.
In other news, Boli Bolingoli speaks after permanent Celtic exit; Mechelen explain signing to supporters.
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