Hypocrisy of the highest order- Chris Sutton lets rip at John Swinney and Jason Leitch

Chris Sutton has launched a spectacular attack on the Scottish Government for bringing football to its knees.

Last weekend almost 50,000 fans attended matches at Ibrox and Hampden but this weekend the stadiums will virtually be locked up with just 500 fans allowed to attend. Hearts have decided to leave Tynecastle empty for the visit of Ross County rather than ballot fans and make arrangements with 20,000 seats left empty.

Thousands of Celtic fans have been denied the chance to watch their side against St Johnstone but they can get on trains and buses to go shopping in Perth or join the bargain hunters at Braehead, Silverburn or other indoor shopping centres where vaccine passports aren’t needed- unlike at football stadiums.

The picture is confusing but what most fans can agree with is that when sanctions come in football is first to be hit with little or no consideration given to fans or clubs.

Highlighting the hypocrisy, Sutton lets rip in the Daily Record:

Christmas Day is tomorrow but Nicola Sturgeon and her cronies have already booted the stuffing out of Scottish football. Again. The decision to cap the numbers at 500 for spectators at outdoor sporting events is a baffling generalisation for me.

But, to be quite honest, that’s nothing compared to what came out of the mouths of Sturgeon’s sidekicks John Swinney and Jason Leitch over the past few days. The comments of those two have been a slap in the face to every fan in the country.

Let’s get one thing straight here. I’m not downplaying the significance of a pandemic. I’m not saying football should come before lives. No one in football would say that either.

But the mixed messaging and, frankly, ridiculous comments which have emanated from Holyrood in the past week beggar belief.

Swinney got the ball rolling with his stuff about regretting allowing full numbers of supporters into stadiums last weekend, referencing last Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup Final between Celtic and Hibs, in particular.

The Deputy First Minister and Government made a decision about the game to let it go ahead with a capacity crowd and then came out two days later claiming there is a high danger that it was a superspreader.

Basically, telling anyone outside of the game that anyone who went to Hampden was irresponsible and is helping to spread Omicron. I was there working. He might not have meant that, but that’s the inference I took from it.

To then say: “That’s nobody’s fault. I was one of the people involved in the decision,” is hypocrisy of the highest order. It is someone’s fault then, John. The fault of the people who took the decision.

If that wasn’t enough, Swinney then doubled down ahead of the three Premiership matches which were staged on Wednesday night.

Games in Edinburgh, Paisley and Perth had open doors. The Government’s message there is it is all right to go so long as you are vaccinated or take a negative LFT. Yet he then comes out publicly and actively encourages people not to go to the games.

So if you’ve paid £30 for a ticket for a game, you are just going to burn that money and sit in the house. If the game was called off, you’d be entitled to a refund.

Leitch didn’t help matters with his words as he addressed the decision to limit the numbers to 500 for the games for three weeks.

Throughout this entire pandemic going back to day one, we’ve been told it’s about following the science and working accordingly.

He said: “It’s very difficult to choose a number, you can either choose zero, 10,000 or somewhere in between. There isn’t a particular public health route that takes you to 500 people.

“It’s a judgement, it’s of course based on trying to keep the risk as low as you possibly can but the alternative is just to close them down completely.”

It seems to me that the number has just been plucked out of the air. Which simply isn’t good enough when you are dealing with a business and a sport that is so valuable to people.

There’s absolutely no rhyme or reason. How can 500 people inside a stadium with a 5,000 capacity be the same as 500 people in a 50,000 stadium?

I’ll bet good money there are more than 500 people milling around inside indoor shopping centres on Boxing Day of the sales. There will be more than 500 people walking on Princes Street at the same time. I just don’t get it.

If it’s about buses and travelling, people are still using the same trains and buses to get where they need to go at a time when sporting events are restricted.

Politicians are clever. They don’t want to be seen to be closing down football so they don’t make the decision to avoid flak. But by bringing in these restrictions, that’s exactly what they have done.