 | Marc Crosas hopes the team can bring the fans back |
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The club have enlisted the help of Marc Crosas to promote the Half-Season Tickets that are now on sale. Gone are the days when Celtic Park was full to the brim for every home game and the club boasted of a waiting list for the coveted season book. Disillusionment with the quality on offer these past few seasons has led to a trickle of non-renewals becoming a steady flow, leading to swathes of empty seats every home game. Thousands of empty seats at the recent Europa League ties showed that it wasn't just the domestic fare that was causing the discontent but Crosas believes that the fans will return if the team produce the goods on the park.
"If we play good football we know that the fans will come." he said. "I know the Celtic fans are always with the Celtic team and they'll be always with us. It's in our hands. Of course you always want to play in front of 60,000 people but you understand if you are not doing your best they won't come."
Celtic may sit at the top of the league but the fact that they've won only two of their last nine matches is giving cause for concern. They are already out of the Co-operative Insurance Cup and an early European exit looks very likely but the SPL will always be the top priority and Crosas will forego involvement in the Catalonia national team this year to concentrate on the title race. "My job is here and I know we have to keep the fans coming to our stadium." he said. "I've played twice before for Catalonia but it won't happen this year because of what's going on at my adopted home. Celtic have been coming in for a lot of criticism and it surprises me a little bit because I look at the league table and see we are on top. But this would happen at Barca if the situation was identical and the fans were unhappy with the team."
"The clubs matter so much to so many people and they put pressure on the shoulders of the players and management team." added the midfielder. "We would have preferred to have gone into this international break with a win at our backs. I listen to the criticism that followed the game at Falkirk and think to myself it would hurt more if we were at the end of the season, but we're not. Nobody will remember that game or any of the others where we've dropped points if we win the title."
Barcelona have first refusal on the player if he were to move on from Celtic but Crosas insists that he's completely focused on furthering his career in Glasgow. "My heart is in Catalonia." said Celtic's number 17. "My mother would like me to come back home one day but everyone there is happy to see me get a game in the first team and even happier to see Celtic top of the league. I know Barcelona watched me when we played Hamburg last week but my priority is to do well here. I don't think about transfer windows or worry about whether a change of manager at Celtic will affect me."
"If a player does his best and it isn't good enough for his boss that's his choice." concluded Crosas. "There are no assurances about the future. I am what I am and have to hope that is good enough for Tony Mowbray. I don't think it's been easy for us since we started in July with a tough Champions League qualifier against Dynamo Moscow. Some players have needed to change their style of play under a new manager but I like the pressure of having to improve every day I go to work. I like the manager. I think he's a good man you can talk to about the game."
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