Martin O Neil

[kukushkin88]

I was just wondering Aaron :-) Of course you can say your opinions but when its so left field I scratch my head and wonder if you are looking for a rise.

I'm not implying lots of clubs won't have great CL atmospheres, so don't twist it

Just genuinely shocked (in a what does it matter anyway kind of way) that you think they aren't a big club! Same goes for Messrs Picken and Langley who think the same.

It depends on the definition. If we use historical data or fan base they are a big prefer some sort of relative ranking of power/success, which means Celtic aren't exactly the biggest about. Mentioning fan base earlier Celtic having support in America was obvious but I'd had ignored. Do they really get support in Asia? I saw man u Chelsea Liverpool Madrid Barcelona arsenal but never Celtic

Furthermore the idea of the number of bars dictating the size of the club is just ridiculous. I mean if get a 100 rovers fans to go and make themed bars will you listen to my arguments that Doncaster is a big club. Celtic have a number of bars because they have had success as a theme, not because the club is big.

Are Leeds/Wednesday and more importantly forest big clubs because of historical performance? Would you agree Porto are a big club? Especially as I imagine they get some interest from south America etc. Benefica as big a club as Celtic? Less bars for sure!

The big club debate is silly on so many levels but 100 Celtic Supporters Club bars worldwide is indicative that they are a big club. The point about if you got 100 Rovers fans to open themed bars is moot, as you couldn´t do it. There are lots of reasons for this one of which that the club is a small club and has no worldwide appeal.

[kinboshi]

I was just wondering Aaron :-) Of course you can say your opinions but when its so left field I scratch my head and wonder if you are looking for a rise.

I'm not implying lots of clubs won't have great CL atmospheres, so don't twist it

Just genuinely shocked (in a what does it matter anyway kind of way) that you think they aren't a big club! Same goes for Messrs Picken and Langley who think the same.

It depends on the definition. If we use historical data or fan base they are a big prefer some sort of relative ranking of power/success, which means Celtic aren't exactly the biggest about. Mentioning fan base earlier Celtic having support in America was obvious but I'd had ignored. Do they really get support in Asia? I saw man u Chelsea Liverpool Madrid Barcelona arsenal but never Celtic

LOL - Celtic have an estimated 10 million fans in Japan, which is in Asia last time I checked.

[kinboshi]

Fan base is clearly a good measure, not the measure but a good one.

and Celtic are clearly a massive club, you only need to look at any home Champions League match to see that.

But this is pretty pointed at all clubs, no? Anyone can have a better atmosphere on a CL match.

What you forget to mention is when there support is pretty poor, apparently they got 15k in a cup match at the weeken? Would these massive clubs ever get 15k in any sort of match?

Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Barca, Madrid, Bayern, Ajax, Juve, Milan, Inter & others, do they ever get 15k?

The fact is that Celtic are not cared about anywhere other than Scotland.

I don't know why I'm bothering but here goes

The atmosphere generated by the fans in Celtic’s stadium for our visit was the most impressive I’ve ever witnessed. The grounds of Liverpool and Manchester United are good and the hostile feeling of playing against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu is also excellent, but the atmosphere against Celtic was the best.
Xavi (Barcelona) (Sep 2004)

"Every professional footballer should seek to play at least one game at Celtic Park. I have never felt anything like it"
Paolo Maldini (AC Milan & Italy legend)

"Celtic fans are some of the greatest supporters I know," he said.
AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf (Oct 2007)

"The Celtic fans are incredible. It is always great to play there."
Cristiano Ronaldo, Man U (2008)

"When I was at Porto my team also played in the UEFA Cup final against a Scottish side - but it was Celtic. I've never seen such emotional people. It was unbelievable!"
Jose Mourinho (ex-Porto Manager) looking back on thae UEFA cup final 2003 (May 2008)

"It is absolutely spectacular to see the fans like that "
Alberto Gilardino (Italian footballer)

"The Celtic fans are very special and the club and players can be very proud of them. They are the best I have ever heard"
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona Player, Oct 2012) before Celtic 2-1 Barcelona

"I have played many games for Spain/Barca but I've never heard fans like Celtic, they were amazing, not quiet for a single second!"
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona Player, Oct 2012) after Celtic 2-1 Barcelona


Aaron it's fine to have different opinions but you seem to revel in going against the grain on pretty much everything. When you are presented with evidence that contradicts your assertions you don't seem to able to take it on board at all. When you do this repeatedly people just don't respect that opinion.

You seem to be missing the point - A great atmosphere makes you a massive club? we are discussin whether Celtic are a big club and you have replied with "atmosphere was great"

what you forget to mention that you apparently massive club got 15k (might not be accurate 100%), but you don't give us that example.

Big club? Perhaps, maybe, not not even close on the "massive" scale.

PS - Not just me saying this.

This is hard work, I was answering the specific point about anyone having a better atmosphere at a CL game.

Yes there 15000 at the Arbroath game last week, I'm not sure what your point is there. The average attendance over the last 10 years or so since the stadium was reconstructed is in the mid 50000s. I could dig the actual stats out but I think I would be wasting more of my time.

Is this an attention thing with you btw?

But for a massive club, is it not poor to ever get a 15k attendance at any point, regardless of competition?

Not attention - I just don't agree, this is after all a forum. People moan this forum is dying, then don't like it when people don't agree with each other.

Big club discussion for me is interesting, but is all a matter of viewpoint. People go on different kinds of things, had people tell me Birmingham are a bigger club than Wednesday, then I would say we are bigger or not much smaller than Man City, but they are about to blow us out of the water with success they are getting now.

But you can disagree with me all you want, but the ridic comment here is saying Celtic would be top 5 in a better league?!

Aaron, can you just clarify which team you're claiming are bigger than Man City?

[Rod Paradise]

as a Sunderland fan i hope we dont get rid of him, the squad he has is still the complete dross that Steve Bruce managed to bring in

that said i think the team selections have been terrible this season. Adam John needs to play down the left, we need (i dont know who, maybe conor whickham) playing upfront alongside fletcher, and sessagnon playing deeper so we can actually get some supplies to the strikers. the counter attacking strategy that worked for 10 game last season just isnt working, especially when we decide to concede after 10 minutes in every game.

One thing with MON - he's stubborn on his team selections. There were times at Celtic were I was sure he was making selections just to show the fans couldn't sway him. In his favour his decisions usually worked out in the long run and proved him right.

[Rod Paradise]

I was just wondering Aaron :-) Of course you can say your opinions but when its so left field I scratch my head and wonder if you are looking for a rise.

I'm not implying lots of clubs won't have great CL atmospheres, so don't twist it

Just genuinely shocked (in a what does it matter anyway kind of way) that you think they aren't a big club! Same goes for Messrs Picken and Langley who think the same.

It depends on the definition. If we use historical data or fan base they are a big prefer some sort of relative ranking of power/success, which means Celtic aren't exactly the biggest about. Mentioning fan base earlier Celtic having support in America was obvious but I'd had ignored. Do they really get support in Asia? I saw man u Chelsea Liverpool Madrid Barcelona arsenal but never Celtic

LOL - Celtic have an estimated 10 million fans in Japan, which is in Asia last time I checked.

That might have dropped since Nakamura left though.... Got a lot of attention/news lately in Thailand as well - mainly through charitable links to a school in Thailand. According to a Rangers fan I know who goes to Thailand regular the Celtic top is commonly seen, as much as Man Utd/Chelsea/Barca/Real.

[kinboshi]

I was just wondering Aaron :-) Of course you can say your opinions but when its so left field I scratch my head and wonder if you are looking for a rise.

I'm not implying lots of clubs won't have great CL atmospheres, so don't twist it

Just genuinely shocked (in a what does it matter anyway kind of way) that you think they aren't a big club! Same goes for Messrs Picken and Langley who think the same.

It depends on the definition. If we use historical data or fan base they are a big prefer some sort of relative ranking of power/success, which means Celtic aren't exactly the biggest about. Mentioning fan base earlier Celtic having support in America was obvious but I'd had ignored. Do they really get support in Asia? I saw man u Chelsea Liverpool Madrid Barcelona arsenal but never Celtic

LOL - Celtic have an estimated 10 million fans in Japan, which is in Asia last time I checked.

That might have dropped since Nakamura left though.... Got a lot of attention/news lately in Thailand as well - mainly through charitable links to a school in Thailand. According to a Rangers fan I know who goes to Thailand regular the Celtic top is commonly seen, as much as Man Utd/Chelsea/Barca/Real.

Nah, they pick a team because of a player joining like that and they stick with it.  I remember the popularity of Roma in Japan because Nakata played there for one season.

[Rubbish2407]

I was just wondering Aaron :-) Of course you can say your opinions but when its so left field I scratch my head and wonder if you are looking for a rise.

I'm not implying lots of clubs won't have great CL atmospheres, so don't twist it

Just genuinely shocked (in a what does it matter anyway kind of way) that you think they aren't a big club! Same goes for Messrs Picken and Langley who think the same.

It depends on the definition. If we use historical data or fan base they are a big prefer some sort of relative ranking of power/success, which means Celtic aren't exactly the biggest about. Mentioning fan base earlier Celtic having support in America was obvious but I'd had ignored. Do they really get support in Asia? I saw man u Chelsea Liverpool Madrid Barcelona arsenal but never Celtic

LOL - Celtic have an estimated 10 million fans in Japan, which is in Asia last time I checked.

There's only 120 million people in Japan so you're saying one in every twelve people support Celtic? Really?

[david3103]

I was just wondering Aaron :-) Of course you can say your opinions but when its so left field I scratch my head and wonder if you are looking for a rise.

I'm not implying lots of clubs won't have great CL atmospheres, so don't twist it

Just genuinely shocked (in a what does it matter anyway kind of way) that you think they aren't a big club! Same goes for Messrs Picken and Langley who think the same.

It depends on the definition. If we use historical data or fan base they are a big prefer some sort of relative ranking of power/success, which means Celtic aren't exactly the biggest about. Mentioning fan base earlier Celtic having support in America was obvious but I'd had ignored. Do they really get support in Asia? I saw man u Chelsea Liverpool Madrid Barcelona arsenal but never Celtic

LOL - Celtic have an estimated 10 million fans in Japan, which is in Asia last time I checked.

There's only 120 million people in Japan so you're saying one in every twelve people support Celtic? Really?

It's a lot more than one in twelve in Glasgow

[kinboshi]

I was just wondering Aaron :-) Of course you can say your opinions but when its so left field I scratch my head and wonder if you are looking for a rise.

I'm not implying lots of clubs won't have great CL atmospheres, so don't twist it

Just genuinely shocked (in a what does it matter anyway kind of way) that you think they aren't a big club! Same goes for Messrs Picken and Langley who think the same.

It depends on the definition. If we use historical data or fan base they are a big prefer some sort of relative ranking of power/success, which means Celtic aren't exactly the biggest about. Mentioning fan base earlier Celtic having support in America was obvious but I'd had ignored. Do they really get support in Asia? I saw man u Chelsea Liverpool Madrid Barcelona arsenal but never Celtic

LOL - Celtic have an estimated 10 million fans in Japan, which is in Asia last time I checked.

There's only 120 million people in Japan so you're saying one in every twelve people support Celtic? Really?

They probably support more than one side, but yes.  In Japan they'll show J-League matches on the news reports and also teams that have a Japanese player.  So you'd get J-League matches on the news, then clips of Celtic matches! 

Here's another example.  Baseball is massive in Japan, and when Hideki Irabu signed for the Yankees it was major league news over there (see what I did?). Every day there was a news story about him, the front/back pages of the newspapers would be all about him.  He was easily the biggest sports star in Japan at the end of the 90s.  There were also probably tens of millions of Yankees supporters at the time in Japan, and once people buy the shirts and the other stuff they tend to stay as fans for a while after as well.

At the same time as Irabu's popularity, Nakata played for Roma and then Parma. His move to Roma was massive news and it seemed like 1 in 5 school-kids had Roma shirts (and the ones who didn't had the Japanese kit with Nakata on the back).  I'm sure Bolton had a popularity surge when Nakata signed for them on loan even though he only scored once or twice.

When Nakamura was at Celtic, the effect in Japan would have been enormous.  I'm sure that Celtic matches would be live on TV over there.

[Rubbish2407]

Okay, I believe you I think.

Going on the demographics of my house, myself, Wife and Daughter, I can confirm that 66% of our household couldn't give a flying **** about Football and I'm only moderately interested for betting purposes.

There's roughly 64 million women in Japan. You reckon over 5 million of them support Celtic?

[Rod Paradise]

Games were live, there were reporters permanently stationed in Glasgow from Japan & the Celtic website had a  special Japanese translation. Saw tourists at the games regularly loaded down with bags from the Celtic shop. He certainly made the club money, as well as scoring that goal against Man Utd.

Edit:  Found a link where it was estimated at 7 million:

http://www.webcitation.org/1312942062265411

Celtic football club a real hit with Japanese fans
Published: 16 February 2009 12:00

According to sports marketing agency, SportsRevolution, there are currently over seven million Japanese adults who are fans of Celtic football club – that is two million more fans than there are people in Scotland.

Japanese interest in football has risen since they jointly hosted the 2002 world cup, with South Korea, and when Japanese footballer, Shunsuke Nakamura joined Celtic Football club in 2005 the Glasgow club gained thousands of new fans from Japan. That fan base has been growing ever since and there is even a Japan based fan group – the Tokyo Supporters of Celtic Football Club.

These figures are also backed up by the interest in advertising space at their games. Antony Marcou, Managing Director of SportsRevolution said: “Japan is the most expensive market to advertise in the world. The cost per thousand impacts prohibits many advertisers from targeting Japan properly. Using Celtic's fan base, like Goldsmiths have done, to talk to a Japanese audience is not only innovative but extremely media efficient.”

But why the huge fascination with football and with a UK club? With the latest 0 – 0 result at the Celtic Vs Rangers game last Sunday to reflect upon, we asked experts in the field; Dr Hiroki Ogasawara from Kobe University and Professor Les Back from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Dr Hiroki Ogasawara, Goldsmiths alumnus and current Associate Professor at Kobe University in Japan, comments:

Why do you think so many Japanese football fans support Celtic?
I think that it's solely because of Shunsuke's transfer to Celtic and his good performance on the pitch. And I have to tell you that it's not about Celtic and their history and culture but Shunsuke himself that many Japanese fans are attracted to Celtic. In addition, it's because of the peculiarity of Celtic's cultural syncretism with Irishness. When Japan co-host the world cup in 2002, Irish fans were really great and they left a good legacy as to how to enjoy the game. They behaved well, and made a good effort to link together with Japanese supporters. Celtic's colour appeals to those who have a fond memory of that time.

[kinboshi]

Okay, I believe you I think.

Going on the demographics of my house, myself, Wife and Daughter, I can confirm that 66% of our household couldn't give a flying **** about Football and I'm only moderately interested for betting purposes.

There's roughly 64 million women in Japan. You reckon over 5 million of them support Celtic?

If you asked them which football team they like/support - I'm sure a lot would say Celtic.  I'm sure a lot would say Dortmund and Man U, with the latter number increasing for obvious reasons.

[kinboshi]

Got to remember, we're talking about Japan here.  It's a very different place to most other countries.  Where else could you have a pop group like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKB48

[Rubbish2407]

I did actually read about a reporter who traveled over from Japan to watch Rangers only for the game to be cancelled.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2239086/Japanese-journalist-travels-6000-miles-report-Rangers-Elgin-City-game-called-off.html

[kinboshi]

I did actually read about a reporter who traveled over from Japan to watch Rangers only for the game to be cancelled.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2239086/Japanese-journalist-travels-6000-miles-report-Rangers-Elgin-City-game-called-off.html

I bet he's not a Rangers fan now, even if he was before!