JUST SAY SORRY

It’s caused ‘chaos, carnage and controversy’ yet Celtic have remained unrepentant. Now they are being urged to finally...

CELTIC last night faced mounting pressure to apologise and admit they were wrong to embark on their calamitous mid-winter trip to Dubai.

The club have come under fierce scrutiny since deciding to make the journey at a time when Covid cases have been escalating in Scotland, sparking a furious reaction from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Defender Christopher Jullien tested positive on the squad’s return, with assistant manager John Kennedy admitting the club were guilty of ‘minor slip-ups’ in protocol during the training camp in the Emirates.

Thirteen players, plus boss Neil Lennon and Kennedy, were then f orced i nto self-isolation, leaving a shadow team to face Hibernian in Monday night’s 1-1 draw.

Criticism has been constant since Celtic flew to the Middle East, with former skipper Gary Caldwell yesterday leading calls for the club to admit they should never have gone in the first place.

He told Sky Sports: ‘I think from a club point of view, the best thing to do is to hold your hands up and say: “We got this wrong. We apologise for any inconvenience we have caused people within the Scottish game”.

‘Hibernian were under a lot of pressure on Monday night and it was unfair on them.

‘I think Celtic made the trip with the best intentions. But there is a global pandemic

and I think they didn’t really assess all that before they went. ‘With hindsight, it’s been a bit of a disaster with so many players and staff having to self-isolate. It’s come across really badly from a PR point of view. The best thing now as a club is to hold your hands up and say: “We got it wrong”.’ Celtic insisted their trip was signed off by the Scottish Government and SFA, but Rangers legend Ally McCoist said the Covid escalation had been so bad the club should have called it off themselves. ‘Honest to God, it’s carnage, it’s chaos,’ he told talkSPORT. ‘Celtic are all over the place. They’ve completely and utterly shot themselves in the foot by going ahead with this trip. ‘I don’t know for the life of me who thought it would be a good idea. ‘Anybody with any common sense would look at the (pandemic) and say: “No, we need to pull the plug on this”. People can’t visit families. Grandparents haven’t seen their grandchildren for a long, long time and someone thinks it’s a good idea to go to Dubai? ‘Then they go over, and the first rst thing that happens is photos come out of them sitting at the pool drinking beer. ‘There’s an element of Celtic people hiding behind the fact of: “Well, the government allowed us to do it, the SFA allowed us to do it”.’ Ex-Celtic striker Andy Walker was equally scathing as he urged rged the club to show some contrition. ‘We’re seeing some dismal governance from Celtic,’ he said. ‘It is unbelievably arrogant to abuse your status as an elite sportsman. ‘That was only brought in for international or elite competition, not for a jolly in Dubai. I think what the Celtic supporters deserve is a bit of contrition from someone, anyone, with a bit of backbone at this club. ‘Preferably (major shareholder) Dermot D Desmond because he’s the one t that makes the big changes. He’ He’s the one who could knock so some heads together here.’ W Walker added: ‘The whole make-up of this club is social responsibility, a bit of understanding of what your su supporters are going th through. They can’t see their fam families. But Celtic are jetting off to D Dubai and they still think it’s the right thing to do? ‘It’s completely unacceptable the way Celtic have behaved here. I want them to show a bit of contrition, a bit of understanding that some Celtic supporters can’t see their grandchildren, can’t see their families. ‘This is not the club I played for. There was no arrogance. And that is what is underpinning this whole debacle here — arrogance.’ James McFadden said the decision on whether or not Celtic went to Dubai should have been taken out of the club’s hands. The former Scotland star told the BBC: ‘I think they need to come out and accept there’s been some wrongdoing. The whole situation could have been avoided. ‘I don’t think they should have gone. It’s all been done technically within the rules but, as the pandemic has worsened, I think the decision had to be made for them not to go on the trip.’ Celtic insist they have done nothing wrong and say one of their players could have contracted Covid if they had remained in Scotland. A statement released on Monday said: ‘Celtic has done everything it can to ensure we have in place the very best protocols.’