Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell has revealed that the club's fines from UEFA this year have dropped from €90,000 to €47,000 euros and that they were still working continuously to produce a fairer distribution ticket scheme for away supporters.
At the club AGM in the Kerrydale Suite at Parkhead earlier today a shareholder brought up the issue of pyrotechnics inside stadia as well as ticket allocations regarding briefs falling into the hands of the wrong fans.
Lawwell said: "Celtic were €90,000 in fines from UEFA. This year we've paid €47,000 in fines so far. It's unacceptable and it is very, very unfortunate. We have during my time tried various routes to engage, convince, and look at the ticket allocation but unfortunately to no avail."
Meanwhile, Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson insisted that the long-standing away ticket allocation issue had been a constant challenge for the champions and admitted that the scheme they had in place was 'not perfect'.
Nicholson reckons there has also been a breakdown in communication with various fan groups over the specific use of pyrotechnics and that the racking up of UEFA fines was an issue that needed to be addressed once and for all moving forward.
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Celtic are seeking to avoid further punishment from Europe’s football governing body as the club is walking the proverbial tightrope, as one more offence in the next two years could result in an away ban for supporters – or a partial Celtic Park stadium closure.
Nicholson said: "It's a long-standing issue that we have been wrestling with for a long time. I think that it's not a Celtic-specific issue. You can see the behaviours around Scotland and Europe and those are the challenges that we're facing.
"Specifically, concerning away tickets taking that in isolation the away ticket allocation scheme is something that's been, again, in place for a long, long period of time. We've consulted with the fans forum and subgroups within the fans forum to see if there's a way in which we can allocate fairly reasonably to satisfy the demand that we have at the moment.
"The system we've got is not perfect and one of the main challenges we've got is that, overall, let's say we allocate 600 tickets for Tynecastle, the one thing that we do know is that those 600 tickets don't always end up in the hands of the supporters to whom they've been allocated.
"So, that's one of the challenges that we face. We communicate and engage with supporters widely and specifically but there appears to be a gap between what we're communicating in relation to fans forum and pyrotechnics and the safety aspects surrounding them. The (UEFA) fines worry us and concern us and the money could be used better. Ultimately, what concerns us most is the safety of the supporters that are in that area and the impact that it might have on the game.
"We have seen recently at games in Scotland where games have been delayed and players have been on the pitch waiting for the game to start. So, it's a big challenge. It is a challenge that we will try and continue to address."
