When spread of Covid in the UK was at its peak in March, two days before Celtic were due to play in front of 50,000 at Ibrox, the SFA took a decision that should have come from Government – football at all levels would stop until they knew how to resume, without endangering the health of players and spectators.
During this period, government ministers and their public health advisors were still happy to send untested patients from hospitals with Covid infections to care homes, pubs and clubs were open, and trains were packed with commuters. These were fatal errors, literally fatal. When the next history of the SFA is written, the Association should get enormous credit that they took the painful steps necessary while governments in both Edinburgh and London froze.
Indoor social and entertainment venues, like pubs, are again open. Outdoor venues, like football stadiums, with their easy to enforce social distancing measures and far lower risk of virus infection, remain closed. The same government ministers who were caught in the headlights in March, again appear incapable of acting in a coherent and evidence-led manner.
Opening pubs while keeping football stadiums closed has nothing to do with public health. No evidence is offered to support this position because none exists. It is a random and incongruous act from a government that knows it sat on its hands while football took painful but responsible steps in March, and which has transformed its stadiums in the subsequent months to make them fully compliant with government safety advice.
Only the Holyrood cabal know why they allow you to watch football at an indoor pub but not an outdoor stadium. It is a terrible policy and shows that their Covid public health strategy remains an evidence-free lottery.
I can’t help but think we are in this mess because Boris Johnson is a disaster of a human being and Nicola Sturgeon’s personal best interests are served if she adopts close to, but not exactly the same as, his policies.
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The Battered Bunnet……
smiley rumour has it Martin42 is voting Independence thing
wee lad no hoopy aboot that…
hahahahahahahahaha
Braw
Whit pub do you know that can fit 35-60 thousand in over a two hour period? That’s the difference.
Wowowo.
Time is short. Time is Eternal though.
Dinnae Ever get mired (BELLSMYRE) in uselessness.
Lenny has the fruits of so much Labour to pick from.
Let’s go Celtic.
Hello again all you young rebels.
A hoopy anniversary to Prestonpans Bhoy, 30 years eh?
only another 22 to catch up to moi.
Well that’s me and the wee princess out at the shops today all
masked up, didn’t need to until Thursday when it becomes
mandatory, but might as well get used to it, and obviously most
Melburnians were like minded as most had the same idea.
Hopefully it’ll help stop us going into stage 4 restrictions.
Thank goodness the Bhoys are on CTV tomorrow, getting really
tough now to fill in the time.
H.H. Mick
STIRLINGBHOY 3.29
Just saw your post , Tommy and Kathleen would keep you right, I’ve been here 64 years and 9 months, does your better half have Muthill connections. It could be a few houses with the tricolour in the garden it quite often flies from the flagpole of the pub.
Any of you who think Nicola Sturgeon is doing what’s she’s doing for political gain are seeing a different person than I am seeing , she comes across as a caring person doing an impossible job trying to save lives. I have been a labour supporter all my life so not pandering to party politics for me.HH
If Any team deserved a wee rest it was Glasgow Celtic.
Let’s Go.
Republica featuring the Amazing Saffron.
Ready to Go.
Incredible CELTIC.
Prestonpans Bhoy
Congratulations…….I’m guessing your good lady’s name is …Patience?
I can’t understand the howls of outrage at the leader article. The howlers fail to identify a single untruth in any paragraph or sentence.
It is now blindingly apparent that any government’s ‘science’ is so flexible that it can accommodate any decision past or present. That said, it was true in March and remains true today that the Scottish government was more than ready to sanction the Ibrox game.
In Mark Daly’s excellent ‘Disclosure’ programme, the ‘Off the Ball’ panellist and public health guru, Jason Leitch, said that he would send his wife to football matches and concerts for – wait for it – public health reasons. I think Jason’s ‘science’ did a U-turn shortly after.
We don’t know the full story yet. Ms Sturgeon certainly communicates better than her London counterpart. Who wouldn’t? But there are areas where the Scottish response has been poor. The death rate in Scottish care homes is the worst in the UK. And the UK’s record is not distinguished.
PRESTONPANS BHOYS
Congratulations to you both on your 30th wedding anniversary !!
Together we are unstoppable.
Our crowd ain’t there currently….. Lenny will deliver in the meantime.
This is gonnae be the hardest Title to win, we might have to come from a few points behind to win. I hope we do. If not I will still Praise Our Lord and Saviour.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ph4rpxsu6SU
Worst article for a long long time P67. Controversial too but that’s no bad thing. Celtic Park with 55000 fans in it will be a dangerous place to be. Celtic Park with 25000 fans in it will still be a dangerous place to be.
Social distancing just won’t work, especially when leaving the stadium. I sit at the back of the lower tier in the North Stand (not in the padded seats though) and if social distancing was practiced how it should be, at the end of the game, I would still be in the ground when the next game kicks off. As for Celtic introducing safety measures, they haven’t even introduced hot water into the toilets in that stand yet.
Papajoe55…her family are mainly Campbell’s with a mix of gows and Sinclair’s…in crieff in square bar now…Tommy and Kathleen were brand new and helped with ancestry stuff..cheers m8..
Prestonpans Bhoy.
Many congratulations.
I hope you both have a fabulous day.
Was going to post lengthy but Fritzsong @ 4:54pm has said it better than I would.
Don’t get the opprobrium about this article?
Football stadia are currently closed (fact)
Celtic are leading on stadium opening pilots.
(I assume we’ve already done some configuration analysis)
Our stadium could accommodate 6500 spectators without infringing the 2 metre rule.
Personally, seeing my team one in every nine games until full reopening is better than 0 / 9
Hail hail
Keep The Faith
STIRLINGBHOY
Know all the families well, hope you enjoy your day in Crieff and your golf as well take care HH
Together – Hardcore Uproar.
What’s really going on?
The hour is late, it’s an Early late hour Today.🤓😎😎
This is the sound of hardcore uproar.
Stay strong in Belief in Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
PSG – a Great friend said he’d be watching behind the couch. I never got to respond. Celtic to win that particular game. The start.
Believe.
Did Jim Murphy write this blog?
‘Only the Holyrood cabal know why they allow you to watch football at an indoor pub but not an outdoor stadium. It is a terrible policy and shows that their Covid public health strategy remains an evidence-free lottery.’
——-
WTAF?
You cant properly or adequately social distance in a football stadium, it just cant be done. Getting in and out and across the row into your seat, its just not possible. And thats before folk start jumping on top of each other to celebrate a goal. It also places stress on the emergency services and transport infrastructure. There is clear evidence that failing to distance by more than 2m will increase the risk of transmission. Its unqualified madness to suggest that we should consider letting folk into football stadiums this time. Some folk just cant behave at the football, too much drink and drugs is where it’s at.
Prestonpans Bhoy
Congratulations to you and your good lady on your 30th Anniversary.
HH
Just read that article again, really in shock.
Did somebody criticize our blessed leader?
TIMALOY29 @ 3:56 PM,
Yes, it was hard to take, yet as you say…
“I still maintain that Celtic had the players available to beat those sides. We weren’t beaten because we lacked talent. We were beaten because of tactics, desire and our mentality.”
Yet Celtic could have had better players, more ambition, better tactics. For me it was no coincidence these things were lacking.
Pep’s comments were interesting after Man City were put out the FA Cup by Arsenal. And no matter how good you are, how you prepare you can’t be at your best 100% of the time.
In any competitive sporting environment you have to be the best you can be, how do you compromise that and still be competitive?
The Mark Viduka idea of being able to give 70% in Scottish football outraged us then
The Board giving us 70% should enrage us now.
GFTB @ 3:59 PM,
Yes, always good “chatting”…
Seen it was your big Five-0 at the weekend, glad you enjoyed it.
Hail Hail
My friends in Celtic,
I see the no 7 restaurant is opening on the 1st August with temperature checks and social distancing measures.
Nobody is suggesting that we have 60,000 persons in the stadium immediately, a phased introduction would be necessary with appropriate measures put in place. Additionally fans would be advised to utilise personal responsibility; High risk categorised fans and fans with a government letter would be strongly advised to stay away in the short term.
I would suggest that a 2hr session in an inside environment could potentially be the more risky option compared to 1.5 hrs in a relatively open environment.
HH to all.
How many pubs hold 1000 people (a conservative amount in a stadium even with extreme social distancing) this article is brazen Pistol Pete promotion (it’s Paul’s site after all so he can do what he likes ) based on greed. It’s bizarre that there’s nowhere in Europe has fans back yet here we have a capitalist advocating we get back in stadia. Do the simple arithmetic less people together less chance to catch it.
Stay safe and well my fellow Celtic supporters 🍀🍀🍀
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 20TH JULY 2020 3:58 PM
‘This is perhaps the most irresponsible thing I’ve ever read on here, Paul.
Reckless bordering on negligent.’
###
Methinks it was Peter Lawwell sticking his finger in the air.
And not in the Kieran Tierney kind of way.
I see the frigging annoying Joe 90 advert is back. Must have come out in sympathy with the bizarre lead article.
HH
I don’t think Paul67 is for a minute suggesting 60,000 fans flock to Paradise for the next game. It should not be hard to allow a limited attendance into the stadium and to enforce social distancing rules. If we can all file up patiently to receive communion then I’m sure we can do similar to enter and exit the stadium (smiley thing)
Reading between the lines, it looks like they’ve (SFA & Celtic) been told to forget supporters in stadiums anyone soon by the government. Awkward when you’ve just asked folk to pony up £666 on a whim and a prayer. Peter Lawwell made a statement the other day and now its Paul’s turn to ram home the narrative. Blame the Government, not us. Priorities all in the wrong place, do we really care more about money and brand as opposed to public health?
‘This is perhaps the most irresponsible thing I’ve ever read on here, Paul.’
#####
NO! No, I won’t have that!
…There’s a place in Eastbourne.”
“some folk just cant behave at the football, too much drink and drugs is where it’s at”
thank god they don’t have any of that in Glasgow’s pubs now ! ;-)
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 20TH JULY 2020 3:58 PM
This is perhaps the most irresponsible thing I’ve ever read on here, Paul.
Reckless bordering on negligent.
________________________________________________________________________________
Wow, quite an achievement when you consider the sheer volume of irresponsible nonsense that gets posted on here, well done Paul :-)
It’s a mad World.
The Hour is l8.
Jibber Jabber
Celtic
Let’s Go.
The mens First Team.
Stop this sh!t.
Thrawn as I am, I believe that
a) The lead article is OTT
& b) The reaction to it is equally OTT
In any adult debate, it should be possible to acknowledge that compared to the infantile Boris, the baby Trump and the psychotic Bolsinaro, Nicola Sturgeon has been adult and grown up in her public policy communications about managing the Covid crisis.
Having made an initial huge mistake, in her care home policy, for which she and her advisers have still to answer (and the answer will be painful), she has been sure-footed in choosing caution over recklessness, even though it may mean that things that could be happening relatively safely now will not happen until they are much much more relatively safe.
There is no surefire scientific evidence. There are only indicative results which provide guidance to the politicians but it is ultimately the politicians who have the responsibility; they deserve the credit and the blame for the decisions they take and have taken.
Nobody sensible, and I think we have heard enough evidence of Paul 67’s sense, is calling for an immediate return to full football crowds. We know our club have asked to be allowed to pilot small crowds; that is the view that Paul is supporting, IMO.
It is legitimate to assert that, if 50 people can be accomodated within a larg-ish pub then 500, 1,000, or 5,000 can be “piloted” or “trialled” in a stadium. It will not be easy but it will definitely not be impossible. There is more risk involved in going along to the no.7 restaurant and exposing yourself to the currently legal risk of ingesting food prepared by others than there is going to a stadium as one of a 1000 fans with no internal food or drink sold.
It may not be economically sensible to provide the level of stewarding necessary to ensure social distancing is maintained but it is not a disproportionately large health risk to take. We already have seen Celtic fans attend matches in France where some areas had responsible social distancing but others , notably the OL Ultra section, did not. Maybe we should allow all sections to be occupied bar the GB one :-)
Of course, there may be resentments about who gets to be in the pilot 500, 1000 or 5000 as it will take a long time before 55k get their equal shot but that is not a health risk argument.
The caveat to all this is 2nd wave statistics. Scotland had a good record of reducing deaths and new contractions of the disease until recently but we do not have the full effect of lockdown restriction easing impacting as yet, so all these plans could turn out to be moot, if the 2nd wave is larger than it is looking to be at the moment. All football could be closed down not just spectating if we have a US level of pandemic ressurgence.
It is daft, and there are no scientific justification for returning to large crowds anytime over the next Month.
It is also daft and equally unjustified for Jason Leitch or Nicola to speculate there will be no spectators till October. That’s arbitrary guesswork, not science.
Somewhere, in between there lies a debate to be had, and we can do without positions being taken based on twisted words or interpretations of what Paul67 has actuallly written or any cult-like closing of the ground around Nicola Sturgeon, against the interests of Celtic Football Club.
Please Forgive me..
Please Forgive me..
—-
ok then
you deserve it