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Details
Started:1990’s
Ended: 1990’s
Ref: Official News Dial in service which charged a fortune
Review
One thing that has thankfully been consigned to the dustbin for eternity is the old club call. This was a premium rate number that supporters could dial up to hear the supposed latest related news for their club, and sadly Celtic had set one up too.
Premium rate lines were very common in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g. supposed helplines and adult chat lines), and it was an easy earner taking advantage of the admittedly gullible and naive. It was a crude way for contractors to clubs to rake in cash from supporters.
The line at Celtic was run by a guy called Terry McGeady who was mostly responsible for updating info etc, and he went on to have a football radio show on the radio station Scot FM.
As the news source is the official club, then just think of why anyone would want to pay to hear a recording of the Celtic View at around 30-40p a minute (at then prices). Yet some fans did so, and in a few cases ran up ridiculous bills which created havoc at times in families. The service was quite poor, and the news stories were always simplistic and old regurgitated notes not worthy to even bother with. It was used also for being able to listen to match commentaries, which would have been a ridiculously expensive to do so.
Pre-internet football supporters (especially those living outwith of the club’s locale) were desperate for content. And the lower down the leagues the supporters’ team were in the football pyramid (keep in mind the agencies officially & exclusively had access to most UK clubs) then the less that team appeared in the papers for news, and so the more likely some would phone up and end up hit by a huge bill.
Thankfully the club call lines across the football world are gone; social media, twitter, internet forums and satellite TV have supplanted them. Other avenues for revenue generation have taken their place, and let’s hope any future ideas are never as exploitative as the old club call lines ever were.
