The news that Ryan Christie has got to self-isolate for 14 days after what I can only presume is a major exposure to the virus is as shocking as it was all too predictable.
The specifics maybe not, but that our club would eventually be affected is not a surprise in the slightest.
Not surprisingly, the two confirmed cases at Celtic were detected whilst players were on international duty.
The folly of playing these kinds of fixtures is surely apparent to everyone by now; when our team played recently in the Czech Republic every one of our players was exposed to an unacceptable level of risk by UEFA’s ridiculous insistence on the games going ahead when our opponents had undergone a significant outbreak.
Today’s news further drives home the all-too evident dangers inherent in the international fixture list. UEFA and FIFA are blatantly risking the safety of players.
It doesn’t take a genius to work this stuff out. Most clubs are operating in self-contained bubbles where containment is relatively straightforward.
When players go to international games they travel from all parts of the country, they travel with an assortment of coaches and official blazer wearers who are not subject to the strict protocols and, of course, they travel in hermetically sealed tubes called airplanes which can’t be made safe no matter what the industry claims.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that there’s a heightened risk with international games; this is realised, it seems, by everyone except the European and global governing bodies. Celtic now faces playing the game against Sevco without two key players.
Eddie has to isolate because he has this thing, and probably caught it in the French camp. Christie has to isolate because he was exposed to it whilst in the Scotland camp … ironically, the guy who has tested negative for it will have to isolate for longer than the player who’s actually been diagnosed with it.
Football will go on of course; our game with Sevco will go ahead, as it should.
Things would be no different if these players were simply injured. But international football should be suspended until this thing is over with; if the governing bodies aren’t willing to do the club teams should take the decision out of their hands by refusing to release players.