Steve Clarke has claimed that Scotland’s pandemic issues are nothing to do with Celtic.
On Tuesday it was reported that John Fleck had tested positive with the SFA quick to add that everyone else in the squad had tested negative.
As Celtic found out to their cost with Ryan Christie in October and 13 players in January testing doesn’t matter the key issue is close contacts.
On Wednesday it emerged that six other Scotland players were left in Spain while the rest of the squad flew to Portugal for a friendly with Holland. Ironically none of the six Celtic players were left out.
The Scotland squad are back in Spain but fly to a friendly in Luxembourg on Saturday then fly back to Scotland after the match on Sunday. If the Celtic precedent is followed the Scottish Government will review all details of the nine-day trip which has involved five flights over the course of 10 days. The squad will also have stayed in three different hotels.
Clarke told the Daily Record:
I’m not sure it’s got anything to do with Celtic. Celtic had their own problems. We work the way we work. We went away for a training camp, to prepare for a major tournament. Unfortunately John must have been in contact with someone before coming away.
Everybody tested negative to get on the plane but these things can happen with two or three days of incubation. It’s shown up on John’s second test, I think it was. We get tested so often my nose is red raw! But anyway, it shows up and you just have to react.
The protocols have been good and fingers crossed we’ve got it under control. But it’s got nothing to do with the Celtic situation.
I know the way the Scottish psyche thinks. With Celtic and Rangers then people make a connection. But this is about the Scottish national team preparing for their first major tournament in a hell of a long time.
When the squad come back from Luxembourg they will split up to spend time with their families before meeting up again to prepare for their opening match on June 14 against the Czech Republic.