LIGHTS OUT
Celtic Park plunged into DARKNESS during St Mirren clash as live broadcast cuts out and fans left baffled
There were issues with VAR as well as live broadcasts from Parkhead
CELTIC PARK was plunged into darkness DURING the Hoops' Premiership clash with St Mirren.
And it led to chaos with the lights going out, broadcasts being CUT and problems with VAR.
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Celtic led 2-0 at half-time thanks to strikes from Nicolas Kuhn and Auston Trusty.
But after a somewhat uneventful start to the second half, chaos arrived.
An eyewitness at Celtic Park told SunSport that power went out inside the stadium for around about 10 seconds.
Everything went totally DARK, before a few floodlights flickered back on and then all came back on.
The scoreboards inside Celtic Park also went down.
While the outage didn't necessarily affect what was going on on the pitch, there were plenty of issues afterwards.
Referee Grant Irvine spoke to both managers, Brendan Rodgers and Stephen Robinson, with the power outage causing problems with communicating with VAR back at Clydesdale House.
On , commentator Alistair Lamont had no idea if he was even still on air!
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After the lights went out, he told listeners: "Wow. Power cut momentarily at Celtic Park. actually no idea if you're still with us.
"I'll keep talking just in case - every single light at Celtic Park went out there! I'm not sure if we're still on air, I've never witnessed anything like this! It is a big power cut!"
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BBC reporter Andy Burke added: "For a few seconds Celtic Park is plunged into almost complete darkness as the floodlights cut out!
"A few gasps from the crowd followed by an ironic cheer as the lights come back to life a few seconds later."
The incident also saw Celtic TV plunged into darkness.
The club's channel was showing live coverage of the match for UK viewers via PPV, as well as its usual coverage for overseas viewers.
But fans trying to watch were met, for around ten minutes, with a green screen or nothing at all.
St Mirren TV was showing a test card during the chaos.
Fans watching on at home were left confused and totally unaware what was going on at the stadium.
One posted: "Celtic TV? Did you pull a plug out?"
A second said: "Anyone's Celtic TV playing up?"
A third posted: "Celtic TV down. Nobody seeing anything."
A fourth said: "Celtic TV PPV only a green screen. Get it sorted!"
Other fans, within the stadium, rushed to clarify what was going on.
One said: "If your Celtic TV went down, they had a power cut at Parkhead."
When the pictures came back, they weren't of great quality with punters still struggling to actually make out what was going on.
While the pictures eventually recovered for some, the Celtic TV commentary failed to return.
VAR, too, returned and was operational for the last 20 minutes of the game.
The BBC radio commentary briefly cut out with Sportsound Extra forced to switch to their Open All Mics feed but this too was quickly sorted after a matter of seconds.
In a statement released in the hours that followed, Celtic explained what had gone on.
The club said: "A power outage this afternoon in the Parkhead area of Glasgow caused disruption to normal matchday services inside Celtic Park.
"The outage, which happened early in the second-half of the game against St Mirren, affected the operation of the stadium’s big screens and PA system.
"Thankfully, the stadium’s emergency generator system ensured continued power to the stadium’s floodlighting and safety systems, including the public thoroughfares ensuring that the match was able to continue after a short stoppage.
"Due to Celtic TV’s live streaming being based at Celtic Park, todays live broadcast of the game was also impacted upon, with the normal Celtic TV coverage interrupted. This included a loss of commentary following the reinstatement of pictures after the power outage.
"Supporters were also advised to take extra care when leaving the stadium at the end of the match due to the limited street lighting in the immediate Parkhead area.
"Celtic would like to thank all supporters for their understanding of these issues arising from circumstances being beyond the club’s control."
The power cut appeared to affect wider areas of Glasgow's East End, with the Celtic stadium announcer warning fans leaving the stadium of poor street lighting in the area.
Hundreds of homes were plunged into darkness with around 52 postcodes, including G31, G32 and G40 affected.
Residents took to X to complain about the lack of power.
One said: "Power cut across the east end I think, my power went out for a split second and now there’s about 20 alarms going off along my street haha."
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"It's pitch black out here in the east end can confirm," another added.
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