Lennon says they can easily handle 18,000 at Parkhead

Neil Lennon has made a plea to the authorities to allow fans to return to Celtic Park as soon as possible.

There have been no supporters at football games in the country since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hoops’ Scottish Premiership match against

Ross County in Dingwall today (3pm), along with Aberdeen’s home game against Kilmarnock, has been chosen as a test event for the return of spectators, with 300 allowed in each stadium.

However, the date for general reopening of stadia in the country has been moved back from Monday until October 5 at the earliest by the Scottish Government due to the rise in coronavirus cases. The Celtic boss was asked if, in light of that recent announcement, he would be surprised if there were fans inside Celtic Park for the Old Firm match against Rangers on October 17.

“No, certainly from our point of view our stadium is as good as you can get,” said the Northern Irishman, who has striker Odsonne Edouard available again after he recovered from a thigh injury, with new signing Shane Duffy also going straight into the squad.

“You know I watched the opening NFL game of the season and there were 17,000 to 18,000 in their stadium.

“So I don’t understand, to a certain degree, why we can’t sort of accelerate this when all the protocols and measures have been checked and checked again by the club. Maybe it’s because it (football) is so high profile. But when we were playing in France (preseason) they were letting people into the stadiums.

“Ligue 1 has started and I watched Brest play Marseille and there was 5,000 to 6,000.

“In the first NFL game of the season there were 17,000 to 18,000 in the stadium. We can cater for that, no question.”

Neil Lennon: Fans plea