Neil Lennon has revealed that his plans for the next fortnight will be determined by the Scottish Governments plans for a circuit break.
Nicola Sturgeon will address the Scottish Parliament tomorrow with a range of measures designed to reduce the growing threat of the pandemic.
After the football authorities went into Lockdown on March 13 there was no form of training until mid-June with clubs and players conforming to tight regulations before the new season started at the beginning of August.
At the weekend Neil Doncaster claimed that the absence of fans from matches was a political decision with Scottish football’s Joint Response Group meeting with Sports Minister Joe Fitzpatrick on Monday.
No details have emerged from that meeting with Lennon waiting on instructions from Holyrood over how he can prepare his side for the Glasgow derby with no certainty that the October 17 match will go ahead as scheduled with a 12.30 kick off.
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Asked about his plans for training through the international break he said:
We’re waiting to see what the Government restrictions are going to be as well, this afternoon. There’s talk of a circuit break for the whole of society so obviously we’ll be waiting for that and analysing it very, very closely. Then it will be just a normal week.
Later he was asked if he was concerned that there might be another pause imposed on football, Lennon added:
I hope not, we’ve been in this sports bubble and that has given us sort of the privelidge to travel, to travel abroad to play; we’ve played at Sarajevo, we’ve played in Riga, we’ve had constant and consistent rounds of testing.
Everyone here, players and staff have come through it so we’re really tight in the bubble so we’re hoping that football will still be allowed to proceed. And if it is two weeks we’re maybe just looking at one game in that Circuit Break and that would probably be the game at the weekend.
It has been speculated that pubs could be forced to close at 6pm in tomorrow’s statement to the Scottish Parliament, with big crowds expected at the Glasgow derby on October 17 there is bound to be concerns over social distancing on that day.