LENNON CALLS OUT ‘ DOUBLE STANDARDS’
Celtic manager confused over Christie situation
NEIL LENNON says that Cel t ic want answers over the double standards surrounding coronavirus restrictions, after Arsenal were cleared to name Kieran Tierney in their squad for this weekend.
Tierney and Celtic’s Ryan Christie had been self- isolating since Scotland team- mate Stuart Armstrong returned a positive Covid- 19 test while on international duty.
As of yesterday, though, Celtic were still none the wiser over whether Christie would be allowed to take part in today’s game against Rangers, leaving Lennon no option but to rule him out of the starting line- up even if he was cleared to play at the eleventh hour.
“We have been asking about Ryan for the last week or so and have met resistance,” Lennon said. “Arsenal have been given permission for Kieran to be in their squad so we are rightly confused. We want answers. You can’t have one allowed to play and one not, so we are confused as to how this has come about.
“All our preparations are pretty much done. We just need to assess a couple of players. If we can get the all- clear for Ryan we would bring him into the squad. He probably wouldn’t start obviously but I’d rather have him available.
“He has tested negative twice now. He has no symptoms and has been training on a treadmill provided to him by the club. There is no reason why he can’t be available. We just want to know, ‘ If Kieran can make it, why can’t Ryan?’”
Lennon is mystified as to why the stringent testing Celtic are conducting does not make his players exempt from the standard 14- day isolation rules.
“We haven’t really been given a reason, it’s just on the protocol basis,” he said. “The lads maintain they were social distancing from Stuart, 2.8m away.
“They are sort of guilty by association more than anything and we feel it’s over the top at the minute. Arsenal have had the go- ahead from the digital/ cultural people in England.
“They have gone through a different line of inquiry and have won their case, if you want to call it that. But we are meeting a lot of resistance to ours.”
Odsonne Edouard meanwhile arrived back in Glasgow yesterday after he tested positive for coronavirus while with the France Under- 21 side, and his condition will be assessed before a decision is made on including him in today’s Celtic squad.