As of 26 December, restrictions will be imposed on all spectator events.
The restrictions are so severe that they effectively render grounds empty.
Attendances will be limited to 500.
Not a single pub or nightclub will be shut; they will invariably fill with people who will be unable to socially distance, who will resist any efforts to make them wear masks.
Not only is the decision to effectively shut football stadiums whilst leaving pubs open utterly ludicrous, it is actually actively dangerous. It will have the additional effect of depriving many teams of cash.
Government has failed to adequately protect us.
Incredibly, we’re now depending on the football authorities to do it.
The SPFL has to suspend football until after New Year, until after the picture has become clearer, until after we know exactly what we’re doing.
What the Scottish Government has announced today makes absolutely no sense from a public safety perspective and will severely impact on the national game.
The sporting integrity of the game itself has been severely compromised as a consequence of this.
It is up to the governing bodies to restore parity.
The games until 26 December should go ahead as planned. The three fixtures following that should be suspended until after the winter shutdown.
Any other decision is ridiculous.
The government’s decision not to close hospitality venues negates any positive effect on the nation’s health which might have come from this decision. If they had suspended football or limited attendances in accordance with wider social measures I could understand and support this. But they’ve failed to.
All this does is punish clubs, and yes, our club in particular.
And whilst the decision was certainly not made on that basis – and I won’t accept any moon-howling nonsense that it was – the effect on us will hardly need spelling out. Our club can’t allow it.
It is not too much to ask that the league call off three sets of fixtures.
That’s what we’re talking about here; the games on 27 and 29 December and 2 January.
There is no way in which those matches can possibly go ahead. The integrity of the competition would be fatally compromised if they did and that is what Celtic must tell the governing bodies at once.
Football has to take the right decision here because government hasn’t.
Not only in the interests of the sport itself but the wider society.
Anything else would be a farce.
Thanks to those who pointed out that the St Johnstone game at Perth would be played behind closed doors if we suspended games from 27 December. The headline and article have been amdended to include it in the matches which should be called off.