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Scottish Government Continues To Proceed With Caution, And That Will Affect Celtic.

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Nicola Sturgeon has announced, this afternoon, that events of 5000 people or more will still require a “permit” and the seeking of an exemption if they want larger crowds and these will be set, by the council, with public safety the uppermost consideration.

This obviously has an impact on Celtic, and our plans.

Look, this is frustrating because it certainly limits our chances of seeing full houses any time soon.

It is hard to imagine that the council will permit 60,000 fans to attend Celtic Park when there is probably clear government advice to the contrary.

But we are, all of us, moving in the right direction.

I think we have reasons to be both optimistic and grateful for where we are right now.

Some of us didn’t think we’d see large numbers of fans inside stadiums this year; Celtic will have a half-filled Parkhead for the weekend and that’s probably the lowest attendance we’ll have in this campaign.

This is a hugely positive step forward, and we can at last see the end in sight.

I don’t think we’ll see a filled to capacity Celtic Park in 2021, but we certainly will by the time the next campaign gets underway.

Whilst it’s not impossible that Glasgow City Council could decide to let us host games in front of full houses right now, it seems pretty unlikely.

We’re coming out of this, slowly but steadily, and that’s the right approach in my view.

There are still a lot of risks associated with large gatherings, with football stadium concourses and supporter’s buses remaining dangerous environments for the spread of this thing and for the establishment of greater chains of infection.

No government that took its responsibilities seriously would ignore that.

The right decisions are being taken for the right reasons, and as frustrating as that is for all of us the priority is, and remains, saving lives.

There’s no higher cause than that, and it’s why we’re all going to have to be careful and patient for a little while longer.

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