Dubai Fiasco – Celtic statement confirms 13 players plus Lennon and Kennedy in self-isolation

Celtic have confirmed that Christopher Jullien – who travelled to Dubai despite suffering a knee injury that will keep him out for the rest of this dreadful season – is the player who has tested positive for Covid-19 and as a result Neil Lennon, John Kennedy and 13 first team players are having to self-isolate.

It looks like Gavin Strachan will take to team tonight – and will be scrambling around to see who he can play. Shambles is too weak a word to describe all of this and surely there will be offers of resignations as the only honourable thing to do?

Here is the statement that the club has just released confirming this fiasco. The statement is published on the official Celtic website.

Celtic Football Club confirmed today that Christopher Jullien has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating at home. We wish Christopher a speedy recovery.

While all of the other members of the squad and backroom team have tested negative, we have been informed by the authorities that, having been deemed ‘close contacts’, Celtic manager Neil Lennon, assistant John Kennedy and 13 first-team players will be required to self-isolate on a precautionary basis as required by the current regulations.

The Club would like to thank the Scottish FA, JRG and the Scottish Government for their assistance in managing this case. Celtic will, of course, fulfill its fixture against Hibernian this evening.

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 COVID 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.