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Celtic Park is a football stadium in the Parkhead area of Glasgow in Scotland. It is the home ground of Celtic Football Club. The all-seater stadium is also known as 'Parkhead' (due to location) and nicknamed 'Paradise'
by Celtic fans, an ironic tag used to denote its close proximity to
Janefield Cemetery. It is the second-largest sporting arena in Scotland
(after Murrayfield) and the second-largest club football stadium in the UK (after Old Trafford), with a capacity of 60,832.
Celtic moved from the original Celtic Park to the present ground in 1892. The main stand was designed by Archibald Leitch, the architect who also designed stadiums for Rangers, Hearts, Sunderland, Fulham and Everton,
amongst others. The stadium has undergone numerous redevelopments; in
1988, Celtic's centenary year, the red-bricked exterior to the main
stand was added and in the mid-1990s, further development was
undertaken to make the stadium comply with the Taylor report.
Now the stands completely encircle the pitch and the stadium consists
of a large double-tiered stand which extends around three-quarters of
the pitch and a lower double-tier main stand, which contains the Celtic
museum. There are two large screens inside the ground for showing
highlights and replays on matchdays. In 2004, Celtic announced they
were making improvements which were "part of the Club’s Five Year
Stadium Refurbishment Plan and will ensure that we remain on track to
achieve UEFA's five star stadium status".
The Jock Stein
Stand [capacity 13,006], at the west end of the stadium, is the
traditional 'Celtic End'. Away fans are normally accommodated in part
of the Lisbon Lions
Stand [13,006]. The North Stand, on the site of the old enclosure known
as "The Jungle" can house a further 26,970 fans, and the South or Main
Stand holds 7,850. The North Stand alone has a greater capacity than 10
of the stadiums used in the Scottish Premier League and, in 2006-2007,
five of those in the English Premiership.
Celtic have investigated the possibility of increasing the capacity
of Celtic Park. Peter Lawell the Chief Executive said in April 2007
that the site of the Main Stand could be redeveloped to increase the
capacity by 8,000, but at the moment it was considered too expensive.[1]
A detail on the outward facing wall of the Main Stand
In 1938 Celtic Park saw its largest attendance of 92,000 when Celtic played a First Division match against Rangers.[2] During the 1990s, while the National Stadium at Hampden Park was undergoing redevelopment, Celtic Park hosted a number of cup finals, most recently hosting the Scottish Cup final of 1998, and Scotland internationals.
In 2002 Celtic Park took 59.9% of the votes in a BBC Radio Five Live poll to find the UK's favourite sporting venue, out-polling the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Lord's Cricket Ground in London.[3] The stadium is located a few miles east of the city centre in the east end of Glasgow.
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