Davie Provan has hit out at Nicola Sturgeon’s opportunism in criticising Celtic while turning a blind eye to the bevvied Conga that the Scotland squad celebrated to in November.
Two images surfaced from Dubai that were brought to the attention of the First Minister. Firstly a Scottish Government statement questioned if the trip had been given permission.
That was followed up by the First Minister calling on the SFA for answers during her media conference on Tuesday while positive test results were reaching new highs and schools across the country are closed.
Politicians rarely have a genuine interest in sport but with football the most popular game by some distance in Scotland it is worthwhile to suggest an interest during moments of success.
In The Sun Provan writes:
If this pandemic teaches us anything it’s that our politicians don’t give a toss about football unless there’s a headline in it. Nippy Nicola couldn’t get on Celtic’s case quickly enough over the Dubai trip.
Of pictures showing players having a beer in the Emirate, Sturgeon said it “raised a question whether all the rules on what elite players have to do within their bubbles around social distancing are being complied with”.
Fine, but on the night she photobombed Scotland’s celebrations in Serbia there wasn’t a critical word uttered over bevvied players getting too close in that drunken conga line.
Selective amnesia?
Either way, Miss Sturgeon had been more supportive of chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood when she was caught breaking Covid curfews. You can argue the toss over Celtic’s trip to the desert.
For me, they missed the chance to play two of their games in hand before Rangers play in Aberdeen but spare me the idea Lennon’s players put the planet in mortal danger.
The entire party would have provided proof of a negative test on arrival in Dubai and you can bet they were tested before they got back. When it comes to caning footballers, politicians are due a day off.
Bottom line is Celts had arranged the trip with the approval of both Hampden and Holyrood. They were out of Scotland before the current lockdown was introduced.
Celtic were quick to respond to the Scottish Government statement, explaining that the training trip had been approved on November 12, the night that Scotland won a penalty shoot-out in Serbia before short visits to Slovakia and Israel.
The team travelled prior to any new lockdown being in place, to a location exempt from travel restrictions. The camp, the same one as we have undertaken for a number of years has been fully risk assessed.
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 4, 2021
If the club had not received Scottish Government approval then we would not have travelled.’
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 4, 2021