SENTINELCELTS

I’m a Celtic supporter, and notice I didn’t specifically state a Glasgow Celtic supporter, there’s many different offshoots and cousins, of course I wish all in the family well. So imagine my surprise at discovering a distant relative through mere chance, and then imagine my double surprise when they gladly embraced my reaching out and corresponded.

Ill leave the good representative of West Allotment Celtic to speak for himself and the Club, and ask you to contribute to their noble cause if at all possible. Details below. The Chairman and Club Historian couldn’t have been more helpful in answering my questions, many thanks, and they will be looking in at responses.
Mahe.

1,,,Given the name and club strip, I’ll assume it was a Celtic fan(s) who founded the club. What can you tell us about your founder(s)?

Weirdly, the naming of the club was done on a whim rather than due to any allegiance to another club. In fact, “Celtic” was a strange choice given that the club is rooted in Primitive Methodism – rather a long way from the usual Catholic connotation! Despite West Allotment being a small village there had been several clubs prior to “Celtic” and most suffixes had been used up, so the founders settled on “Celtic” as it was unused and in fashion at the time (1928). Also, the green and white hoops were only adopted in the 1990s, largely because people expected us to turn up in green and white and it avoided clashes with most other clubs. Previously, the club had worn black and white stripes and, even earlier, sky blue and claret. That said, a change strip in the 1950 was green and white quarters.

2,,,Glasgow Celtic have a long and illustrious tradition of playing free flowing attacking football. Was this tradition passed down or desired to the best of your knowledge?

I think all clubs would aspire to playing flowing football but, given Allotment’s status, the style has changed to suit circumstances down the years. The home pitch, up until 1968 was called “Rowland’s Farm Ground” and it lived down to its name! Brazil ’70 would have struggled to play flowing football on it! That said, Allotment were successful on it (and away from home too). In more recent times, (mainly the “noughties”) manager Terry Mitchell had the team playing a fast, passing game that was successful in gaining the club promotion to the Northern League. Even more recently, Jay Bates led the side to a promotion, despite Covid, and the team scored a hatful of goals (last season saw wins by 10-1, 7-1 and 9-0) playing the aforementioned fast and flowing football.

3,,,The Green and White Hoops have became iconic, found worldwide, and celebrate Celtic’s Irish roots. Has West Allotment Celtic ever faced abuse or hostility due to wearing the mighty Hoops?

No we’ve never had any issues at all, but as a nomadic club we have picked up a number of distant fans partly due to the green and white hoops – we have a few that keep in touch from Ireland.

4,,,Glasgow Celtic Supporters constantly bemoan our lack of involvement in our club’s direction, there’s a long standing disconnect between fan and boardroom. How much of an input does the local community have in your club?

Interestingly enough this has been a big area of change in the last three months. In November, the club committee agreed to fold the club after hitting a financial brick wall and an engaging committee with no new people coming in to help run the club. This is where I became involved again (I was previously involved with the club ten years ago, as relatives of mine were founding members back in 1928) and proposed a very different business model that gave the community complete insight and control in partnership with my non football magazine The Football Pink. https://thefootballpink.co.uk/ Allotment has switched to a fan ownership model, with a behind the scenes documentary being filmed – full details here https://wacowners.co.uk/become-an-owner/?mepr-unauth-page=611&redirect_to=%2F This now means that individuals across the UK are joint owners of the club, giving the community more say than ever before. This particularly was noticeable when a match of ours was called off recently due to goose excrement on the pitch resulting in media coverage on Talk Sport, the Daily Mirror and local press – as a result we ran a raffle with entrants from Slovenia, Ireland, Germany, Spain, USA and Canada to name a few!

5,,,On our website the general feeling is that grassroots football in Scotland is under-resourced, under funded, and on the slide. What’s your take on amateur football, where it stands and where it’s going?

Grassroots football is broken, and that is one of the reasons behind our switch to a fan owned model. Too many clubs are struggling under rising costs, a lack of volunteers and a lack of resources (financial but also well maintained pitches etc). This comes against a backdrop of professional football where there has never been so much money. As a club, we believe there will be a fundamental switch in how grassroots operates in the next ten years – or clubs will simply die.

6,,,Do your games ever get scouted by professional clubs?

Yes with the north east being a hot bed of football, there’s always scouts at matches looking for the next Jamie Vardy. The league also picks up it’s fair share of players that have dropped out of the professional game from academies.

7,,,How can our readers help West Allotment Celtic?

Any readers who are looking to support another Celtic would be very welcome to become part owners of the club – details here. https://wacowners.co.uk/become-an-owner/?mepr-unauth-page=611&redirect_to=%2F

Maybe even some of your readers will like a trip down at some point to see us.