DOMINIC MCKAY hopes that the successful return of supporters at the European Championships can extend to Scottish football, with the Celtic chief executive saying the return of fans is crucial to the club in both a financial and sporting sense.
McKay was speaking at the official unveiling as Ange Postecoglou as Celtic manager, and he said that both men had been excited by the possible return of fans to Celtic Park after witnessing 22,500 supporters inside Wembley when Scotland took on England last week.
And even if it means the use of vaccine passports, McKay believes that the return of crowds inside Scottish grounds can’t be far away after positive talks with the Scottish Government yesterday.
He is even hoping that a large number of fans can attend Celtic’s Champions League second round qualifier against FC Midtjylland in late July.
“They are ongoing discussions,” McKay said.
“There are two data points. One is the Euros. The success of getting 12,500 into Hampden has been fantastic.
“Ange and I were fortunate to be down at Wembley for the Scotland game when there was 22,500. It was fantastic to have a crowd back in. We’ve really missed crowds in the stadium.
“The second data point is the direction of travel with the government. The first minister’s announcement last week that the restrictions are due to be lifted, in terms of social distancing on the 19th of July and then again August 8th is massively helpful.
“So the conversation this morning with the government was to say ‘okay, Celtic Football Club, this wonderful stadium, is ready to host crowds as soon as we possibly can.’
“So I suspect by the time we get to our European fixtures we’ll have a good size crowd back in.
“And then when we get into our new season we should have every reason to get even larger crowds back in.
“I don’t want to say a number because it’s not for me to indicate a number.
“But the data points give huge confidence that we’re going to be able to get supporters back in.
“It feels like if we keep doing sensible measures we’ll get supporters back in ever greater numbers shortly.
“Whatever it takes, I suspect the Celtic support, the Scottish football support, will go a long with to get back into to watch the club they love.
“It’s so important for the players, as well as the finance, and the coaches to have that atmosphere again. We’ve all missed it. The quicker that can happen again the better. Having full stadiums is really the lifeblood of our sport.
“The quicker we can get back to that, in a controlled way, the better for the whole sport.”
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