Celtic's next two matches have been postponed and Nicola Sturgeon has issued Scottish football with a final warning after Hoops defender Boli Bolingoli’s secret trip to Spain.
The Belgian flew to Spain last Monday for a 24-hour visit without telling his club and ignored the 14-day quarantine rules before coming off the bench in Celtic’s Scottish Premiership draw with Kilmarnock on Sunday.
The news emerged just after Scottish Government advisers held talks with managers and captains from the 12 Premiership clubs in the wake of eight Aberdeen players breaching rules by going on a night out. Two of them caught Covid-19 and a further six were ordered to self-isolate.
Aberdeen’s clash with Celtic on Saturday has been postponed and the pair’s midweek games – against Hamilton and St Mirren respectively – are off.
The Dons’ trip to play St Johnstone in Perth had been postponed last weekend and the disruption will give the Scottish Professional Football League a major rescheduling headache but it understood there is no doubt over Celtic’s Champions League qualifier against KR Reykjavik on August 19.
The Scottish Government had admitted it was considering a suspension of football after the news broke but, as fresh talks between the government and the football authorities continued on Tuesday afternoon, Sturgeon said: “As a minimum, you should not be expecting to see Aberdeen and Celtic play over the course of the coming week.”
That was soon confirmed by Scottish football’s Joint Response Group.
Sturgeon stressed she did not want rule-abiding clubs and players plus fans to be punished for the individual breaches but warned: “Consider today the yellow card. Next time it will be the red card because you will leave us with absolutely no choice.”
The SPFL has agreed to put in place punitive measures if other clubs or players break protocols as well as helping the government get its public health messages across. It is understood friendlies between clubs will now not be authorised.
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