Why Celtic Still Feels Different in 2026

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·10 February 2026

Why Celtic Still Feels Different in 2026

There are clubs you follow, and there are clubs that follow you back. Celtic has always belonged to that second category. Even when results wobble, even when the football world spins faster than it used to, the pull of Celtic feels stubbornly human. It is rooted in people, in place, and in a sense that supporting the team is never only about what happens for ninety minutes.

‘Banish The Traitors – End the Bans banner in the crowd at Celtic Park. Celtic v Falkirk, Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park, 01 February 2026. Photo Mark Runnacles IMAGO / Shutterstock

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Talk to any Celtic supporter and you will hear a version of the same story, told a hundred different ways. It begins with family. A parent or grandparent who made room on the sofa for Sportsound. An uncle who insisted you learn the words to the songs before you learned the league table. A first scarf, a first ticket, a first time you understood that the colour green could feel like belonging. Celtic is often inherited, but it is never passive. People choose it again and again.

The walk to Paradise

Celtic Park on a matchday is a small lesson in how atmosphere is built. It is not just the noise when the teams come out. It is the rhythm of the day, the familiar routes, the same corners that seem to hold memories. You can feel the city changing as kick off approaches. The closer you get, the more the conversations tighten into team news, injuries, who is due a start, who is carrying form, who needs a response.

Young Celtic fans are seen during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on February 01, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Then you step inside and it becomes something else. Paradise is not a marketing phrase to the people who say it with a straight face. It is shorthand for a kind of collective focus. You see it in the way a crowd can lift a team through a sluggish first half, or stiffen when a goal is conceded, as if everyone has decided to do the defending together.

European nights sharpen that feeling, but the truth is it lives in league games too, especially when there is pressure on, or when the weather is miserable and the points still matter.

What makes Celtic Park distinctive is not only volume, although it can be loud enough to rattle your ribs. It is the way the crowd knows when to turn noise into message. A song can become a reminder to keep going. A chant can become a demand for intensity. There is a tradition here of supporters feeling responsible for the mood, and that sense of duty, oddly, is part of the joy.

History as a living thing

Celtic’s history is so often told through the greatest hits. The club’s founding purpose. The floodlights and the flags. The Lisbon Lions and the proof that a Scottish club could play football with bravery and flair on the biggest stage. The big names, the big managers, the big nights.

Celtic and Utrecht players shake hands before kick off. Celtic v Utrecht, UEFA Europa League, Group Stage, Celtic Park, 29 January 2026. Photo Stuart Wallace IMAGO/Shutterstock

But for most supporters, history is not a museum piece. It is a living thing that shows up in the smallest moments. A banner that reminds you of someone who is no longer here. A song that you first heard as a kid and now sing with your own children. A story about a trip to an away match that becomes part of the family vocabulary. Celtic’s past keeps stepping into the present, and it gives meaning to the routine.

Tommy Gemmell CSC Dunblane banner at Celtic Park. Photo The Celtic Star

That matters in modern football, where everything is designed to be frictionless. Tickets are digital, content is clipped into ten second bites, and the conversation is shaped by algorithms. Celtic, at its best, still has texture. It has layers. It asks you to remember and to care, not simply to consume.

The club and the community

It is impossible to talk about Celtic without talking about the idea of community. That word gets thrown around so often in sport that it can lose shape, but at Celtic it retains weight. The club’s roots are tied to people who needed help, and the memory of that origin still informs how many supporters see their role.

Green Brigade Annual Foodbank Collection, 2024. Photo Green Brigade

You see it in charity work, in food drives, in supporters’ groups that organise collections, in the everyday decency that sits alongside the rivalry and the noise. You see it in how fans talk about the club’s responsibilities, and how they notice when those responsibilities are met or missed. It is one reason Celtic remains more than a team. It is a social identity, a civic presence, and for many it is a moral reference point.

Green Brigade Annual Foodbank Collection, 2024. Image: Green Brigade

That does not mean everyone agrees on everything. Celtic supporters are not a single mind. There are debates about transfers, style of play, youth development, recruitment strategy, leadership, and the direction of Scottish football. There are arguments about what the club should stand for in public and how it should behave in private. But the disagreements themselves are a sign of investment. People argue because it matters.

A modern game that keeps changing

Supporting Celtic today also means living with the realities of the modern football economy. There is money everywhere, but not evenly. There is attention everywhere, but not always on the things that make football meaningful. Clubs are expected to be content machines, brand platforms, and commercial partners, and supporters are expected to accept that as normal.

Our Dear Green Place tifo by the Green Brigade, September 2024. Photo IMAGO

You feel it in the stadium, where the matchday experience now carries a layer of corporate language that sometimes sits awkwardly beside the songs. You feel it online, where every rumour becomes a headline, and every headline becomes a debate. You feel it when sponsorships and advertising change the look and sound of the sport, with everything from financial services to an online casino popping up in places that used to be reserved for local businesses and community messages.

Most fans understand the need for revenue. Football is not a romantic hobby. It is a competitive industry. But supporters also know that clubs can lose themselves when they chase every pound without thinking about what makes them worth supporting. For Celtic, that balance is especially important. The club’s identity is part of its strength. It is not something to trade lightly.

What keeps people coming back

Celtic is a club built on rituals, but it is also built on hope. Every season begins with the belief that something special could happen, and every good run of form makes that belief feel rational. The best Celtic teams have always carried a clear idea of themselves. They play with intensity, they attack with intent, and they make Celtic Park a difficult place for opponents to breathe.

07.11.2012 Green Brigade pre match display in action during the Champions League game between Celtic and Barcelona from Celtic Park.

Supporters are not naïve. They know football can be cruel. They know that a bad result can ruin a week, and that injuries can derail a plan. But they also know that Celtic has a habit of producing moments that stick. A late winner that turns the stadium into a single roar. A young player taking responsibility in a big game. A captain hauling the team forward when the performance is slipping. These are not just highlights for a montage. They are emotional reference points that keep the story moving.

And maybe that is the simplest truth. Celtic continues to matter because it continues to feel like a story you are part of. Not a product you buy, not a trend you follow, but a living narrative that you carry with you. In a sport that is increasingly polished and packaged, Celtic still has rough edges, and supporters still love it for that.

Celtic supporters and Legends honoured in striking new stadium makeover. Photo Celtic FC

If you ask why Celtic feels different, the answer is not only trophies or tradition. It is people. It is memory. It is the sense, on a cold afternoon in Glasgow, that you are standing in a place where thousands of others have stood, singing the same songs, wanting the same thing, and believing, for a little while, that belief itself can change the game.