Scotland suspends football below top 2 leagues

[dockers_strike 4,132]

Breaking news.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55616399

 

Scottish football below Championship level has been suspended for three weeks due to the rising number of coronavirus cases.

The impacted leagues include SPFL Leagues 1 and 2 and SWPL 1 and 2.

The Highland and Lowland Leagues, the East, West and South of Scotland Leagues, Scottish Junior FA Leagues and the North Caledonian League are also suspended.

Weekly PCR testing will be required players and staff in the Championship.

Regular testing has been in place for Scottish Premiership clubs since the season started in August.

Scottish Cup matches will also be suspended, with any ties scheduled to be played prior to 1 February to be rescheduled.

The temporary pause will be reviewed on a rolling basis by the Scottish FA Board in partnership with Scottish Government.

A statement from the governing body said: "The board gave extensive consideration to making a decision in the interests of public health, taking cognisance of the government's wish to reduce travel and possible contact with others whilst safeguarding commercial broadcasting contracts that sustain the professional game.

"Following a meeting between the Scottish FA and the Minister for Public Health Sport and Wellbeing, both parties have agreed to impose a temporary suspension of all football beneath the Scottish Professional Football League Championship, encompassing all predominantly part-time tiers of the Scottish professional pyramid, from midnight tonight."

[SlugTrail 1,343]

Its starting, 4 weeks and it will hit the PL

[dockers_strike 4,132]

Celtic v Hibernian goes ahead as planned on Monday evening despite the hosts being told that 13 first-team players must self-isolate.

The Scottish champions say Christopher Jullien was the player to test positive for Covid-19 on return from the club's Dubai training camp.

A local NHS health protection team has since deemed 13 other players to be close contacts.

Manager Neil Lennon and assistant John Kennedy must also isolate.

Celtic stress that injured defender Jullien was the only positive case, saying they are "hugely disappointed" by the decision.

"The contacts were identified during the period from Wednesday last week, primarily around flight and team coach travel, during which time Celtic applied the same rigorous protocols used for pre-season training camps, Uefa match travel and for all domestic match arrangements in Scotland," reads a statement

from the Scottish Premiership champions.

"These protocols have served us well in the past, as the club has not had one positive case in our own 'bubble' until now. As we have already stated, Celtic's decision to travel to Dubai for a training camp was for performance reasons. Whilst we were in Dubai, the announcements made on 4 January significantly changed the COVID landscape.

"The reality is that a case could well have occurred had the team remained in Scotland, as other cases have done in Scottish football and across UK sport in the past week."

On Saturday, Celtic assistant manager John Kennedy admitted the club had been guilty of "minor slip-ups" in Covid-19 protocols during their six days in Dubai.

Photos emerged of members of the Celtic party not distancing or wearing face coverings, and Kennedy says they give a "bleak" but "false" impression.

Jullien is the fifth Celtic player to test positive for Covid-19, with David Turnbull, Odsonne Edouard, Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed previously contracting the virus while on international duty.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55525905

[Bjornebye 33,848]

Absolute fucking disgrace Celtic. Fuming. Lennon fuck right off 

[MegadriveMan 1,294]

I can see non league games and possibly league one and two being suspended in England.  It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for the smaller clubs as they could carry on playing in to June, and they will potentially be allowed to have fans in by then. 

[ZonkoVille77 5,828]

Going to Dubai. Stupid fucking cunts. 

[an tha 8,468]

Starting to build now isn't it.

 

My guess is i next 7-10 days it will be stopped.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55615893

[Bobby Hundreds 10,446]

They need united to top the table first, just incase PPG becomes a reality.

[Daisy 23]

Fuck this season. If we aren't buying a centre back then fuck it off

[an tha 8,468]

2 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

They need united to top the table first, just incase PPG becomes a reality.

They would win it on that today.

[aws 8,079]

It'll be voided unless either two-thirds or three-quarters of the season has been played. The Prem haven't decided which one yet but it will be one of them (probably three-quarters). 

[Grinch 3,315]

I don't think they can afford to stop

[VladimirIlyich 9,641]

On 11/01/2021 at 19:02, aws said:

It'll be voided unless either two-thirds or three-quarters of the season has been played. The Prem haven't decided which one yet but it will be one of them (probably three-quarters). 

Whichever one leaves United top.