CelticGround: Celtic Park Visits: 1 Date: 2nd January 2013 Match: Celtic - Motherwell 1-0 (Scottish Premier League) Attendance: 48 002
After the final whistle at Liberty Stadium on Tuesday afternoon I went to the train station for the 17.55 train taking me to Manchester. I spent the night at a hotel close to Piccadilly station and on Wednesday morning I boarded a train to Glasgow. There was a couple of matches in England this evening but only at grounds I had already visited. In Scotland 2 January was a Bank Holiday meaning a full schedule of matches. My choice for the day was Celtic vs Motherwell at Celtic Park. Having been to only one Scottish ground I had plenty of matches to choose from and to be honest I wanted to save Celtic Park for an Old Firm derby. With Rangers being in Division 3 at the moment the next derby will not take place for a while though. I decided Celtic vs Motherwell was a good enough match for me to finally pay a visit to Celtic Park, the ground where fellow Swede Henrik Larsson became a legend.
Staying at a hotel close to Glasgow Central I didn´t have far to walk and 25 minutes after arriving in Glasgow I had checked in and was back on a train. This time it was a very short journey. Bridgeton is the station closest to Celtic Park and after a 12-minute walk I was then standing outside the impressive home of Celtic Football club. It was by now raining (again!) and I quickly took some pictures before picking up my ticket. My seat was behind the goal in the upper tier of the Jock Stein Stand. The view from up there was really good and thankfully I was protected from the rain as well. Celtic Park has a capacity of around 60 000 and has three big stands. The old main stand is dwarfed by its neighbours but for most matches the current capacity is more than enough. In total 48 000 fans turned at Celtic´s first match of 2013. Around 400 of those were from Motherwell. The match started with Celtic dominating but despite several chances they couldn´t break down the Motherwell defence, 0-0 at half-time. The second half was more even but Celtic always looked more likely to score. Still no goals and then suddenly with seven minutes to go Motherwell was awarded a penalty. For the first time this afternoon the atmosphere was like I had expected. The penalty was saved and three minutes later Celtic scored the winning goal. During these five minutes the noise inside Celtic Park was as good as I had expected but for most of the match it was a bit dull. Nevertheless a great ground and I would love to come back, for an Old Firm derby or maybe a big international match.
Flags
Statue of Jock Stein
Rear of the South Stand
Players arriving
Celtic Park
North Stand
East Stand
South Stand
A young Celtic fan
North Stand
Green Brigade
Kick-off
East Stand
Penalty, Motherwell (saved)
Motherwell fans
View of play
South Stand
My view
Pano
Pano |