Celtic have issued a defiant statement in support of their training trip to Dubai.
The club has been under siege since deciding to go ahead with the trip, even more so once pictures emerged of Scott Brown and Neil Lennon drinking poolside.
Hard work was the recurring theme from the club throughout the trip against a backdrop of blue skies and splitting sunshine while at home most of Scotland went in to Lockdown.
On Sunday afternoon the club announced that one player had tested positive, today Chris Jullien was named as the player. Why someone unlikely to play for three or four months was on the training trip is something of a mystery with the club avoiding that issue in their statement.
Supporters have been unhappy with the disconnect from the club, today’s news and the reaction to being without 13 players for three matches won’t have improved the mood.
The statement read:
Clearly we are hugely disappointed, as we know our supporters will be. The contacts were identified during the period from Wednesday last week, primarily around flight and team coach travel, during which time Celtic applied the same rigorous protocols used for pre-season training camps, UEFA match travel and for all domestic match arrangements in Scotland.
These protocols have served us well in the past, as the Club has not had one positive case in our own ‘bubble’ until now. As we have already stated, Celtic’s decision to travel to Dubai for a training camp was for performance reasons. Whilst we were in Dubai, the announcements made on January 4 significantly changed the landscape.
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.
Celtic has done everything it can to ensure we have in place the very best procedures and protocols. From the outset of the pandemic, Celtic has worked closely with the Scottish Government and Scottish football and we will continue to do so.
Celtic face Hibs tonight before home and away games with Livingston.