Celtic ‘should be held responsible’ for fan damage – BBC News

Businesses in Glasgow city centre have criticised football fans causing damage and disruption at the weekend while celebrating Celtic’s title win.

An estimated 25,000 football fans gathered for an unofficial party in the city centre around Glasgow Cross and the Merchant City on Saturday to celebrate the team winning the Premiership trophy.

Some businesses had to close early while some chose to stay closed all day.

Glasgow City Council said unofficial events had caused significant disruption and it would continue to engage with football clubs to prevent future incidents.

Carriages and Castles, a children’s clothes shop in the Trongate, had a windowsill broken from fans standing on it to get a better view of the crowd.

The shop, which would normally be open, stayed closed on Saturday.

The manager of the shop, Fiona, said: “Customers can’t get in, it’s a children’s shop. You don’t want to bring children in to that, they get scared.

“The club should be held responsible for the damage that’s done. Could they not do that at their club grounds, because they wouldn’t damage that.”

“The previous year it was just fans urinating, but that was easily cleaned.

“Then you’re wondering whether or not you’re going to have missing fascias or worse, broken glass because we don’t have shutters, only at the main part.”

She said fans should support their team, but must not “destroy” things.

Other shops in the area had windows vandalised with graffiti.

Bus stops and traffic lights were also broken.

Heather More, owner of Rose and Grants coffee shop, said she thinks the council should do more to prepare for events like Saturday’s gathering.

She told BBC Scotland News: “I do think the council should offer some sort of area for people to celebrate that’s not in the Trongate where there’s businesses just trying to trade as normal.”

Ms More added she used to live in Barcelona which was much better prepared for big events.

“I understand [the council] don’t want to encourage people to celebrate but they know it’s going to happen.

“The disruption in the Trongate is embarrassing for the city.”

Ms More took the decision to close early on Saturday for the safety of her staff, but said that will have a big financial impact for the cafe.

She said: “It could potentially cost us thousands of pounds. Things are tight just now but to have to close the cafe on a Saturday, our busiest day, it’s quite sad.”

She said the worst part was not knowing what she was coming into on Sunday.

“I understand it’s maybe once a year if Celtic win the league but it’s not ideal, right now I’m sitting looking at a bus stop that’s been smashed up and needs repaired,” she said.

The disruption was also felt at the Purple Cat Cafe.

The cafe is home to over 30 rescue cats, which visitors can mingle with while they enjoy their refreshments.

But on Saturday the disturbance in the area scared many of the cats.

“Our cats stay in here 24 hours, they stay downstairs at night time but they come upstairs in the morning and while they were up we had Celtic fans banging on the windows,” said supervisor Shiloh MacDonald.

She continued: “They’re used to loud noises being next to the Royal Infirmary but they’re not used to fireworks and flares going off.

Many customers cancelled their visits because of the football fans.

“We had sessions to run with customers but it is quite disruptive to the session when people are just trying to have a nice relaxing day with the cats and a coffee and there’s a rowdy party going on outside.”

She said after three years of the gatherings, the business has started putting measures in place to prevent too much disruption.

“Usually we’ll shut early or give staff that live out of town the day off, so I was given the day off. There’s not much we can do as a business, we can’t just shut for the day.”

“Along this street, people can’t get into their jobs, customers can’t get to shops and the whole city gets trashed.”

There is green graffiti spray painted on the outside of the shop as well as stickers on the windows of the cafe, and the task of removing it falls to the staff.

Shiloh added: “We do get graffiti on normal days, but when it becomes Celtic and Rangers stuff it becomes a bit of an issue because people come to the door and say you need to get that removed.

“It takes away for the staff that we have inside and it’s a bit of a pain coming out to scrub the walls.”

The Tron Pawn Broking shop was also affected, with one worker telling BBC Scotland News it was impossible to prepare for.

“You’re talking about 30,000 people. How can you prepare for that?” he said.

They made the decision to keep the business closed, meaning they lost a full day’s takings.

He added: “They were all climbing up the scaffolding at the side of the shop. Somebody could have got killed.”

At the Tron Theatre, a performance of Dead Girls Rising had to be cancelled due to large crowds and disruption.

A council spokesman said unofficial celebration events by fans of both Celtic and Rangers had “caused significant problems” in and around the city centre in recent years.

“The council continues to believe that one way to reduce the negative impact of these events would be for clubs to offer supporters more opportunities to celebrate safely,” he said.

“The council, for its part, has always committed to looking at how it can support and facilitate any proposed plans.”

He added that council officials had “positive discussions” with both clubs to discuss organised celebrations.

Celtic has been approached for comment on events in the city centre.

Another street celebration is expected this weekend after the Celtic and Rangers game to decide the winner of the Scottish Cup.