TIMELINE TO A COVID CRISIS
NOVEMBER 30 THE SPFL move Celtic’s home Premiership match with Hibs from Saturday, January 9, to Monday, January 11 at 7.45pm after a request from the Parkhead club, who want to book a warm-weather training camp. That draws a furious reaction from then-Easter Road chief executive Leeann Dempster, who accuses the league of not consulting the Edinburgh outfit. Dempster said: ‘This was done without my knowledge — we said no to the original request from Celtic because the request did not work for our club... we are fizzing about this.’
DECEMBER 19 AMID a worrying rise in Covid cases and a new mutant strain of the virus across the UK, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces Scotland will go into the toughest tier of Covid restrictions on St Stephen’s Day. JANUARY 2 CELTIC lose 1-0 in the Old Firm derby at Ibrox as Rangers stretch their gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership to 19 points. Afterwards, despite the rising Covid cases, and a plea to the public by Sturgeon to avoid all but essential travel, the Scottish champions fly out to Dubai. JANUARY 4 STURGEON addresses the Scottish Parliament to place Scotland into a strict lockdown. JANUARY 5 THE First Minister is among those to express concern after pictures on social media show Celtic players and staff apparently socialising without observing the normal distancing or face-covering procedures and consuming alcohol beside a swimming pool. Miss Sturgeon urges the SFA to investigate the purpose of the camp. However, Celtic insist they had organised the trip with the approval of both the governing body and Holyrood via Scottish football’s Joint Response Group. JANUARY 9 CELTIC assistant John Kennedy admits the club were guilty of ‘minor slip-ups’ in observing Covid protocols during their trip to the Middle East. JANUARY 10 CELTIC confirm that an unnamed player has tested positive for Covid-19. Leading public health professor Dr Linda Bauld describes Celtic’s decision to go to Dubai as ‘quite astonishing.’ JANUARY 11 CELTIC confirm ahead of their rearranged match with Hibs last night defender Christopher Jullien has tested positive for coronavirus and that boss Neil Lennon, assistant Kennedy and 13 first-team players are required to selfisolate. Amid fresh criticism from Sturgeon, Celtic claim: ‘The reality is that a case could well have occurred had the team remained in Scotland, as other cases have done in Scottish football and across UK sport in the past week.’