ROBBIE: KEEP THE FOOTBALL ROLLING
Jambos boss doesn’t back Davie’s circuit breaker idea
ROBBIE NEILSON has urged league chiefs to keep the Scottish football show on the road over the Christmas period despite rising panic levels over the new Covid wave.
SPFL clubs are on red alert with games in England being cancelled and fears the Omicron chaos could spread north of the border.
Dundee United are already battling an outbreak ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Rangers while Livingston boss Davie Martindale last night called for the January winter break to be brought forward immediately as a circuit breaker.
But Neilson is hoping to hang on to give long-suffering supporters some festive cheer.
The Jambos gaffer said: “Our job is to play football and entertain.
“And at this moment in time fans are looking forward to games.
“There are people out there who football is the main part of their life. And if we just decide we’re going to stop for two weeks and then we have another break in January, it’s going to be difficult over this festive period.
“I know myself I look forward to this period because there are so many games to watch, to go to, to be involved in.
“So we have a responsibility to ensure we follow the protocols and try to get the games on.”
Neilson is confident the Scottish game can ride the storm and he doesn’t believe it’s inevitable games will go.
He said: “I don’t think so, it’s just where we are at the moment.
“We’re always going to have ups and downs, wee spikes going into the winter period.
“From our perspective as a club it’s about making sure we follow the protocols.
“And we hope everyone else does as well.”
Livi boss Martindale insisted Scottish football is heading for a major problem though – and he would
BY MICHAEL GANNON
batten down the hatches right away.
He said: “We’ve got a cup final on Sunday, let it happen, even if we get this round of fixtures out of the way on Saturday and give us the two weeks off.
“Then we’ll start two weeks earlier from the winter break.
“We’re hitting a wee bit of a tsunami with this. It’s going to be difficult for clubs to keep Omicron out of their environments and even if they are successful in doing that, how do you keep it out of your households?
“If the local supermarket is missing 10 or 20 per cent of its staff, it’s still probably going to hit its turnover and profit margins.
“But if we’re missing 20 or 30 per cent of my staff I could get relegated at the end of the season, which would have a massive impact on Livingston FC.”
Hearts – who face Dundee tomorrow – insist it is business as usual for now and Neilson has faith in the club’s strict Covid rules in place.
He said: “There’s not much you can do (about the uncertainty). You need to make sure the players follow the protocols.
“You need to try and guide them when they are away from here.
“And then every time when they come in you hope when they do a Lateral Flow it’s clear.
“And if it’s not then you need to get on top of it quickly,”
Hearts are hoping to jet out to Spain during the winter shutdown but Neilson said: “We’re still planning to go away but we are in negotiations about what we do. We’re awaiting further guidance
from the JRG.”