Sturgeon puts football back in dock over Celtic Dubai trip
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has defended his side's Dubai trip after Ni cola Sturgeon claimed the club had questions to answer.
The First Minister feels some photographs she has seen from Celtic' straining camp suggest the squad might not be complying with social-distancing guidelines.
Celtic insisted on Monday that they had received Scottish Government approval for their mid-season trip following criticism of the timing of their excursion, two days before Scotland went into lockdown from already strict restrictions.
Travel, even within S cotland, is only permitted for "essential reasons" and the Scottish Government asked the Scottish Football Association to investigate the matter on Monday.
Speaking at her media briefing yesterday, Sturgeon said: "As I understand it, the Scottish Government gave some advice to the SFA about the rules around elite training camps back in November last year. The world around the pandemic has changed quite a bit since November.
"It's not our role to sign off or agree or not agree on what a football club does in terms of training camps. We set out what the rules are.
"The rules have been - and they may need to change given the changing nature of the pandemic-that elite sports can go overseas for training camps if that's important in the context of their training for competitions.
"For me, the question for Celtic-and I am trying to be diplomatic here-is not so much' are they overseas at a training camp?'. It may be, given changing circumstances, that in future that won' t be appropriate.
"But that' s not really the question. It's 'what is the purpose of them being there'?
"I've seen a comment from the club that said it' s more for Ran dR than it is for training.
"I have also seen some pho - to graphs-and I can only comment on what I have seen, I don' t know the full circumstances - that would raise a question in my mind about whether all the rules at what elite players have to do in their bubble around social distancing are being complied with.
"So I think there are things there that should be looked into."
Sturgeon added that sports teams should not" abuse" their privileges.
Lennon claimed Celtic had put all the relevant protocols in place.
"As the club said ye st erday, the camp was arranged some time ago, with the full consultation of the footballing authorities and given approval by the Scottish Government," he told the club's official website.
"Of course, we understand that we are in very unique and difficult times and there are now even tougher
No-one is suggesting that amid a frightening increase in Covid-19 cases, and with much still to be learned about a troubling new variant of the disease, football should be top of anyone’s list of priorities, or even near the top.
Nevertheless, many will have tuned into Nicola Sturgeon’s briefing on Monday in the hope of finding out what Lo ckdown Two was going to mean for football, given things were serious enough to cancel an Old Firm match at 48 hours’ notice shortly before Lockdown One came into effect.
Surprisingly, the impact on football was not raised. The game did feature in the First Minister’ s newly re-introduced daily briefing yesterday – and it will wish it hadn’t.
For the time being, football can continue, despite its own best efforts. It can keep on providing a balm on those dark winter evening which are making Lockdown Two seem even more of an ordeal. Envy is prob - ably helping ha rd enpeople’s stance against Celtic’s mid-season trip to Dubai, although, in truth, it would have seemed a nonsense at whatever time of year the Parkhead side chose to go, given the worsening Covidcircumstances.
The steady stream of missives from the Middle East yesterday, including one from manager Neil Lennon, seeking to emphasise all the work that was being done on the training field suggested Celtic are belatedly aware of what should have been clear to them back in November, when they say they received approval from the Scottish Government to go.
It is not a good look. Once again the First Minister has reason to question a football club’s approach to obeying special guidelines put in place for them so that games can still be staged during a pandemic. The best we can hope for is that these matches are permitted to carry on. The argument about letting fans back in now seems as naïve as thinking elbow nudges instead of handshakes at kick-off would suffice when it came to adopting preventative measures.
We should be braced to hear more from the JRG – the dreaded Joint Response Group – in the weeks ahead, sadly. Because, as much as Neil Doncaster and co were desperate for it to be the case, a virus doesn’t simply go away if you close your eyes and wish it so.
As it stands, Scottish Cup fixtures, when professionals will mix with amateurs all across the county, remain on this weekend, with the next round, when top-flight teams enter the fray, scheduled for the end of this month. That is bound to be another fraught affair if it happens at all, with lower league sides expected to implement testing if they are drawn against a Premiership club.
As this new variant of the disease takes grip, fans are advised to appreciate simply watching football from afar while they can. One League Two chairman told me yesterday he felt less optimistic than ever about these ason being comp let ed,c erta inly in the bottom two tiers, where TV money is not such a persuasive issue. It’s just as well there is a plan in place if another campaign ends up being curtailed…