By Clare Boyle
I started watching Celtic Women during lockdown. When I attended my first game in 2021, the crowd was mostly friends and family of the players. It’s not a long time in the scheme of football fandom, but long enough to have seen genuine growth, setbacks, breakthroughs, and moments that felt like real turning points. Which is why it feels important to say this. Celtic Women have already shown what is possible. The issue is not a lack of potential. Momentum was built, but it has not been protected or built upon. This is not about blame, ambition or asking for the impossible. It is about recognising what worked, what has quietly slipped, and what lessons we have to learn now, before that progress becomes harder to recover.
The growth of Celtic Women did not come from nowhere. Week on week you started seeing more faces, and then the same faces coming back and bringing some extras.Importantly, they kept coming back. There were ups and downs along the way, but there was a sense that something was building. At this point Celtic Women had a way of drawing you in and making you want to see where this goes. That momentum peaked in very visible ways. There were, of course, the games at Celtic Park attended by those pushing for the Celtic End but even taking these out of it – a five-figure crowd at a cup final, 7000 turning up at Celtic Park for a league decider. These were not crowds driven by ultras or with an ulterior motive. They were people choosing to be there for the thrill of something to win.
That matters, because it proves the audience exists.
Women’s football support behaves differently to the men’s game. It is more family-based, more routine-led, and more sensitive to disruption. This means that ever changing kick off times, last minute reschedules and clashes with not only Celtic men’s games but girls Sunday league games matters more. And when you’re building, if someone misses a few games, there needs to be a reason for them to come back. That is what makes momentum so valuable and so easy to lose.
On their own, my complaints around Celtic Women might seem minor. Almost no visibility on the club’s main social media channels. Women’s news pushed into the wider “all news” category on the website rather than on the top stories. Home games played at a stadium with no Celtic identity. Matchdays that feel functional rather than welcoming for families and younger supporters. A recent example is the decision to remove SWPL lettering from in store printing services. It might sound trivial, but it has real impact on fans of the women’s game. This was something we fought hard for not that long ago, and to have it pulled away is a further slap in the face. Not deliberately, perhaps, but clearly.
It would be unrealistic to ignore the wider context around Celtic right now. The men’s team is under more scrutiny than I can remember in my lifetime. Pressure is high. Focus naturally sits where the millions are earned, as it should be. No one expects the women’s team to be prioritised ahead of the men’s team. The women’s team should not have to compete internally for attention. What it needs is ownership.At the moment, too much around the women’s team feels borrowed rather than assigned. Borrowed staff. Borrowed focus. Borrowed time. When resources are shared like this, the urgent always overrides the important.
Women’s football, especially at this stage of its growth, needs consistency more than crisis management There is already a clear example of how separation can work. Having Barrowfield as a training base and home for the women’s team has kept them away from the recent manager drama and has allowed football operations to continue and thrive. That same principle could apply off the pitch too. A small, dedicated group of staff whose job is to think about the women’s team all the time is not a luxury, it’s common sense. Women’s football has a different audience, a different rhythm, and different needs. Treating it as a linked but distinct operation is not a downgrade. It is an acknowledgement of reality. When responsibility is clear, momentum is easier to protect and ultimately build on.
The most important thing is that the audience has not gone away. It was less than 2 years ago that we lifted the league trophy in front of 7,000 people. The proof already exists. We have seen what happens when the women’s team is visible, valued, and given space to grow. Momentum can be rebuilt more quickly than it was built the first time. But only if the lessons are learned. Celtic Women are not starting from nothing. They are starting from experience. And that should count for something.
Clare Boyle has supported Celtic FC Women since 2021 and runs coygig.shop creating merchandise and content for the women’s team
