Title party fanzones not possible due to cost, says council

Dedicated fanzones in Glasgow for football supporters to celebrate their clubs winning trophies is not possible due to the cost, the city council have said.

BBC Scotland News spoke to several businesses who said an organised fan celebration would be beneficial, but the city council insisted any events would need funded by the clubs themselves.

Police said two officers were seriously injured following trouble in the city centre, which resulted in 14 arrests.

Glasgow City Council said the number of people taking part in the celebrations was "significantly down" on recent years.

Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney told the BBC's Radio Scotland Breakfast programme that in the future holding an event at somewhere like Glasgow Green should be looked at, rather than gathering on the city streets.

He said: "We need to see more proactivity. There were proactive measures to strip down bus shelters and put hoardings in place - that's anticipating disorder.

"Why don't we go further and create a fanzone somewhere like Glasgow Green, that's easily accessible, with a large spillover area and distance between buildings, so the risk of vandalism is low.

"The relevant club could contribute to the financial costs of that, rather than the disorganised hemming in of fans on city streets.

"I am astonished at the lack of leadership and the failure to anticipate this situation yet again. It's not good enough."

However, Glasgow City Council told BBC Scotland News creating a fanzone would not be affordable unless the clubs themselves covered the costs.

The spokesman added that it "isn't credible to think that people who want to fight among themselves... will attend a fanzone".

In the Trongate area on Monday morning, hoardings were still in place around various bus shelters while broken glass from shattered bottles littered the streets.

There was agreement from several businesses in the area regarding having an established fanzone.

Lewis Maddock is the co-owner of the Through the House café on High Street, and said most of the fans congregating were no problem at all, with only a minority causing problems.

However, he felt having a space set aside would be helpful.

He said: "Perhaps there needs to be more from the council or the police to put pressure on Celtic or the SPFL to actually do something.

"Glasgow Green would be the obvious choice, as it's a big space, but there'll be other green spaces in the city too that could work."

He added there was little communication with shops and cafes from either the council or the police, and that a heavier police presence this year meant more fans ended up being rounded up together on Saturday.

Jan Moffat works in a nearby Greggs outlet and said while there was nothing wrong with fans celebrating, it made the area feel intimidating for non-football fans.

She said: "It's not the colour of the scarves, it's who's wearing them. A fanzone would be perfect - there'll be people who won't come out to the town because of this (fans gathering).

"You don't want to spoil people celebrating, but it does impact your business and there's a limit to it. Have them do it somewhere else, like Glasgow Green."

Neil Murray, the executive director of the Tron Theatre, said cancelling two performances on Saturday cost the venue about £8,500 and the outside of the building was left "like a public toilet" after the celebrations.

He told BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime programme: "We had staff in yesterday at seven in the morning taking down boards we had put up to protect the building, and sweeping away glass and human waste from around the building.

"It's not on and that's five years of this now. It's untenable year on year. Any decent city would not allow this to happen."

He added it felt like two clubs "have the right to take over the city", referring to Celtic and Rangers, and that an "organised, authorised celebration" was needed.

A number of other businesses declined to be named, but said they supported the idea and that the fans taking over the Trongate forced them to shut earlier than usual each year.

'Unacceptable ad hoc celebrations'

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: "Glasgow is unique in Europe in that a team from the city has won the league every season for the last four decades.

"This means we are likely to have fans celebrating in most years and, while the city has offered clubs senior technical support, it is clearly not possible for the council to bear that cost.

"We have been working with the city's two biggest clubs for the last year to look at how we reduce unacceptable ad hoc celebrations.

"Although the behaviour of a minority of supporters on Saturday was deplorable, the numbers attending Trongate and Merchant City were significantly down on previous years.

"However, it simply isn't credible to think that people who want to fight among themselves, vandalise buildings and infrastructure and throw bottles at the emergency services will attend a fanzone – or that any responsible organiser would consider letting them in."

Celtic did not respond to a request for comment.