The English media are far from impressed by the gymnastics of the SFA over Billy Gilmour.
When news emerged just after 10am on Monday that the midfielder had tested positive it looked like Scotland would be decimated for tonight’s match against Croatia.
As Gilmour’s team-mates packed up for a flight from Teeside to Glasgow it seemed incredible that there were no close contacts of the Chelsea man.
By early evening attention switched to the England camp with news that Ben Chiliwell and Mason Mount were in isolation.
Toiling to a 0-0 draw at Wembley on Friday night was bad enough, news that two of ‘our lads’ were unavailable to face the Czech Republic after coming into contact with a ‘Sweaty’ hasn’t gone down well.
Tuesday’s Sun: Scot to be joking #TomorrowsPapersToday #TheSun #Sun pic.twitter.com/7kuLe01gK9
— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) June 21, 2021
The English edition of The Sun reports:
Chilwell and Mount were deemed to have come into close contact with their Chelsea team-mate inside the tunnel, with Gilmour putting in a Man of the Match performance.
But Scotland stars were not required to self-isolate because there have been no close contacts identified. That is despite images of Scotland players hugging Gilmour including boss Steve Clarke following the point at Wembley.
Chilwell and Mount have both returned negative tests for Covid-19 but are still being asked to self-isolate as a precaution. They are now a major doubt to take on the Czech Republic in their final group game.
Boss Southgate is far from impressed and said: “I don’t want to cause a drama for Scotland, but if you’re all in the dressing room together. Where do you stand?
“I don’t know all of the factors behind that but it clearly it’s nothing to do with being on the pitch.”
A draw for the Czechs tonight will see them top the group and send Southgate’s squad on their travels away from Wembley as the knock-out stage gets underway.