Quotes by Non-Celts

"The best fans on the continent"
El Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona (before UEFA Cup game in 2003)

"Celtic fans, you are great, you are marvellous"
Sepp Blatter (FIFA President)

Ancelotti [AC Milan Manager]would certainly welcome back Celtic to the Champions League on a regular basis, if only for their supporters. The sight of 10,000 Celtic fans giving their team a standing ovation at the end prompted Ancelotti to reflect that Scottish football followers could teach their Italian counterparts a lesson in loving the game. “This is what we need in Italy, this type of environment,” the Milan coach said. “This was the essence of sport. To hear the Celtic fans singing and chanting after the game was incredible.”
Ancelotti (AC Milan Manager 2007, Fri. March 9th London Times).

'The Greatest Team on Earth'
Local billing for Celtic on a visit to the Midlands in the 1890s

"Rangers or Celtic?
My first feeling was Celtic. When I was 13 years old I saw for the first time in my life a European Cup final - Inter against Celtic. That image is, even today, clear in my mind; that day, that game, Jimmy Johnston, Riva... I was so impressed. When I was in Mozambique, far away from football in Europe, I always remembered that day and that team. Especially because when they started to play in the national stadium in Portugal I thought Celtic were Sporting Lisbon because they dressed like Sporting."
Carlos Quieroz (Man U assistant manager)

William Gaillard (UEFA's director of communications and public affairs) speaking after the European Cup final between Liverpool and AC Milan in 2007, was asked about what is going to be done in the future when another British club gets into the final and there is the same problems of fan behaviour/troubles getting into the ground. His answer?
"......Well, Celtic fans a couple of years ago went to Seville in the Uefa Cup Final and took over 3 times the amount of fans there. There was not one bit of trouble as all the fans that had no tickets stayed in the square and had a big party. Every team should follow Celtic's fan behaviour and that mentality"
(William Gaillard, UEFA's director of communications and public affairs, 24/05/07 Sky Sports News)

"Celtic, like Barcelona, are more than a football club. Our clubs are a symbol of a culture and community that has not always been made welcome in their respective countries."
Xavi Alonsa (ex-Liverpool player, his father played for Barcelona)

"Celtic fans are some of the greatest supporters I know," he said.
AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf (Oct 2007)

Eurosport (Nov 07)

"It will stick in my mind for ever that after the game the Celtic players were extremely good sportsmen and, together with their supporters, they gave us a standing ovation when we were receiving the cup."
Eddy Pieters Graafland (Feyenoord goalkeeper) after the 1970 European Cup final

“Celtic have all the cool people supporting them. Rangers have me and Wet Wet Wet!!!”
Alan McGee’s lament on the great truth (Alan McGee was the founder of Creation Records and the former manager of Oasis (who also happen to be Man City and Celtic fans)



"Celtic Park, where a man is judged by his football alone"
Willie Maley


"Football without the fans is nothing"
Jock Stein

"We don't want to live with history, to be compared with legends from the past. We must make new legends".
Jock Stein (After winning his first league title as Celtic manager in 1966)

"The best place to defend is in the oppositions penalty box."
Jock Stein

"Celtic Football Club is the fans, without them there is no club."
Paul McStay

"The Celtic supporters were out of this world. I've still to find supporters to better them."
Tommy Gemmell

"They are a superb set of fans and they love to see us battle for the cause"
Bobo Balde

"The Celtic supporters know their football."
Shunsuke Nakamura

"They are a fantastic club with amazing support."
Henrik Larsson

"You could take all the derby matches in the world and put them together and they still wouldn't equal one-millionth of the Old Firm. There's nothing like it."
Paolo Di Canio

"Celtic is far more than a football club. The traditions, the history, the warmth - you have to experience it every day to really understand this."
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (June 08)

"Our stadium is a phenomenal place, and is difficult to put across just how much it means to play for this club, and what this club means to so many, and how well known it is in any part of the planet until you experience playing at the stadium. Celtic is a way of life and very important for the Scots and the Irish, wherever they have emigrated to, and wherever you go, they applaud you and support you.’’
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

"What these players have to realise, is that when you put on the Celtic jersey you're not playing for a football team, you're playing for a community and a cause"
Tommy Burns