HIBERNIAN manager Jack Ross has revealed that his players' families were concerned about the prospect of their loved ones facing Celtic on Monday night.
The Premiership champions' plans were thrown into disarray upon their return from their warm winter training camp in Dubai after defender Christopher Jullien tested positive for Covid-19.
That led to 13 first-team players having to self-isolate, alongside manager Neil Lennon and assistant John Kennedy, as the fixture was given the all-clear to go ahead as originally planned.
Celtic today confirmed that one player has recorded a positive test for covid-19. Clearly the player will receive all our care and full support.
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 10, 2021
All other members of our squad, management team and backroom squad are negative.
READ MORE: SPFL turned down request for additional Covid testing, say Hibernian
Hibs asked for a further round of testing to be carried out on both sets of players earlier on Monday to reassure their players, who had "reservations" over playing the Glasgow club.
But the SPFL rejected that request, warning the capital side that there would be "severe consequences" if they did not fulfil their fixture as planned.
Speaking to Sky Sports shortly before kick-off, Ross revealed that some of his players' families were concerned for their wellbeing at Celtic Park - adding that as an employer, Hibs have a duty of care towards the squad.
He said: "The difference, compared to previous occasions this season, is that the prevalence of the virus means it’s the first time that players’ families have expressed concerns to the players themselves.
"And that changes the dynamic slightly. As responsible employers, that will force you seek reassurance.
READ MORE: Explained: Why Shane Duffy was allowed to rejoin Celtic bubble after leaving Dubai early
"In terms of the football side, they were always focused on that. But they were well within their rights to express any concerns they had.
"My responsibility is always to my players. I have a responsibility to look after them
"That’s all we did today. And we were well within our rights to do so."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel