Celtic 'bows to fan pressure' to pay all staff living wage

The Daily Record reports that the club's hundred or so lowest-paid employees have had their wages bumped up to £8.25 from £7.85.

The club's chairman Ian Bankier had said last year that it was "not in the interests" of the club to raise pay - a statement condemned as "penny pinching of the worst kind" by supporters.

But it seems that the pressure has come to bear, and Celtic's financial records showing that the pay rise actually came back in July.

The paper hails the increase as "a victory by fans groups in their long-running campaign to convince Parkhead executives to bring in the rate".

A Celtic Trust spokesman said that there is still a way to go, however, with the club yet to be officially recognised as an Accredited Living Wage employer - and the cause is clearly close to the hearts of fans who respect the traditions of a football club founded by an Irish Marist called Brother Walfrid in 1887 to combat poverty in Glasgow.

"The lowest paid workers have now been paid more than they would have been without this campaign and we are delighted about that," the Celtic Trust statement said.

"We hope you will continue to support us, and that, unless national political developments overtake it, we will soon be able to say that our club is an Accredited Living Wage employer.

“We think Brother Walfrid would have wanted that, don’t you?”