A-League chief executive Danny Townsend has predicted a sold-out Accor Stadium in Sydney later this year when Celtic come to town. The stadium can hold just over 83,000!
Townsend believes the Glasgow Derby will see people turn out in their thousands to see the game. The A-League chief believes there are so many Scottish people in Australia who will be desperate to get along to this match and cheer on their teams in the flesh.
‘A sell-out is entirely possible,’ he told Sportsmail. ‘And that’s a testament to how popular those two teams are and, equally, how many Scottish people are here in Australia starved of seeing two teams they love. Each of them in their own right is exciting.’
Celtic fans have stated their opposition to sharing a field with their rivals in a friendly capacity in order to make a few sheckles. The online outrage, followed by the Green Brigade’s banner before the St Mirren game has made it clear it’s something many fans don’t want to see.
On the other side of Glasgow, they seem to be horrified they’re playing a supporting act to Celtic’s main event with Ange Postecoglou dominating the early promotional material for the tournament.
Glasgow can be a petty place, and there’s no room for logic at times. Selling a game to people in Australia using the former Australia boss, the most successful Australian football manager of all time and the team he now manages seems reasonable enough. However, the inferiority complex our friends have across the city is something else. You’re never too far away from a title count, or a misleading phrase like ‘most successful club in the world’.
It stands to reason they’d be upset by logic.
Celtic have said very little about the tournament right now. The board have let Ange take the lead. Ange has made it clear he’s going to take personal pride in taking Celtic to Australia. Celtic fans don’t begrudge Ange that, but there’s an overwhelming feeling one of those games didn’t have to be against the Ibrox club.
