Government faux grandstanding a year late

There is something demeaning about Celtic putting out daily messages asking fans who have zero interest in attending Celtic Park on Sunday to stay away from the game at the insistence of the Scottish Government.

They have been forced into this by Government muscle flexing.  The Government have zero intention of cancelling the fixture but cannot control that information from leaking through their ranks.  This pantomime will continue until the First Minister, or perhaps her Justice Minister, will concede that Celtic and the visitors have ‘done enough’ to allow the fixture to go ahead.  Celtic’s messaging has been crystal clear for 12 months; we are not the transgressing party, but we are useful to deflect from the core problem.

If only the Government had been as keen to act last March.  They froze when they should have made a decision, allowing 50,000 fans to attend a Europa League game in Ibrox, including thousands of visitors from Germany.  Despite first hand access to the scientific evidence, they continued to divert their eyes until football took the unilateral decision to call a halt to the sport, two days before another 50,000 were due at Ibrox.  A year on and your Government has matured into faux grandstanding around the most important issue of our lives, mark my words, the game will go ahead, this is all false.