Details
Ref: Celtic Pools, Club Pools
Dates: 1960s-2010s
Background
Back in the old days, before modern commercialisation, there were actually limited means for football clubs to generate revenue. Match days was the main source, TV income was poor (long before satellite & cable TV) and merchandise was not properly exploited. One source of income that grew up around the 1960s was the Club Pools.
The Club Pools were a form of gambling, whereby for a nominal sum (£1-2 per line bet) fans were to pick around ten matches with 3pts for a score draw and 1pt for a win etc, with those who got the most points winning the jackpot.
Rangers Pools were the more organised and successful. Celtic played catch up, and at one time even tried to install Jock Stein to overlook the operation as part of the Celtic board after the end of his tenure as Celtic manager, but he was to decline the offer. From outside it may now sound surprising, but it was a potential major revenue generator and so a highly regarded responsibility. Jock Stein is said to have remarked that the board wanted to turn him into a salesman but he didn’t want that.
You’d find the results and updates on the Celtic Pools in the local Glasgow papers, and was reasonably followed by some.
Taking in that the Pools initially were meant to generate revenue to assist funding the development of the ground, the relative lack of work at Celtic Park over the next generation maybe is an indication of how little it produced (as against expectations) or maybe how poorly any funds generated were used.
The decline in the pools came hand in hand with the establishment of the national lottery in the UK in the late 1990s, which just couldn’t really compete.
The Celtic Pools & draws are retained more in a diminished form as a novelty in many ways in later years, but what it generates helps to support Celtic youth schemes. It has long been way overshadowed by the other revenue generators in recent years (e.g. National Lottery).
A slice of history, and another reflection of how football has changed over time.
Notes
Quote from – A Celtic A-Z by Campbell and Woods.
One fan recalls:
For some unknown reason the rangers pools blew us and everybody else put together out the water when it came to prize money. They were paying out a top prize of a 100K when we were paying out less than 10K. I was always surprised at the number of Celtic faithful who were members of it.Wasn’t the first big winner who declined picking up the cheque on the centre spot at Ibrox because they were away watching the hoops?
“I think you identified the reason right there. The money on offer in the Rangers Pools was much more significant. I think they were marketed and organised much more professionally also. I remember having a couple of “difficult” discussions with family members in the late 80s when word got out they were members of the Rangers (Limited Gene) Pools through their work – they didn’t seem to realise who they were financially supporting
If you were an agent for the Celtic Pools you got a free ST with a certain amount of members.
Feb 2011
Play the Celtic Pools and help Youth Development
THE Celtic Weekly Pool is the official lottery for the club and continues to support Youth Development by investing all net proceeds.
Over £11,000 is paid out to lucky supporters EVERY week – for only £1 per week you can get involved and play your part in the future of Celtic.
Below: Celtic Pools Agent Books from the 1960/70s, the agent being James ‘Flax Flaherty’, One of Big Jock’s Great Pal’s and Trusted Main Men
