Former Celtic star Jonny Hayes found himself embroiled in this week’s Scottish football drama, part of the eight-man Aberdeen group that has been severely criticised for socialising in a restaurant and bar last week.
Hayes, who moved back to the Dons this summer after being released at Celtic Park, has now issued an apology and offered an explanation for what happened, speaking on Aberdeen club outlet RedTV today.
He said: “We went out for dinner, we went to a city centre venue and looking back we shouldn’t have done that, we know that.
“It was a genuine mistake, we tried to stick to the whole social distancing measures put in place, we weren’t hanging about in big queues, we weren’t doing anything we thought would let ourselves down at the time. We genuinely thought we were doing okay.
“It’s been proved and it’s been shown that we’ve made a mistake so we just wanted to come out and apologise to everybody. Looking back now, there’s been some serious ramifications to the game, not just the St Johnstone game, the Scottish game as a whole.”
With two players testing positive for the virus, and six more in self-isolation, Celtic will be on high alert with regards to next weekend’s fixture against Derek McInnes’ side at Celtic Park.
Either we face a severely depleted Dons first-team or the game itself is postponed.
The latter would be a real problem considering our lack of wiggle room when it comes to the schedule this season.
Clearly the health of players and staff at all clubs is the most important priority.
Hayes’ apology comes after scathing comments from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon regarding the Aberdeen stars’ actions.
As quoted by BBC Scotland, she said: “It is now clear that all eight of these players visited a bar in Aberdeen on Saturday night.
“In doing so they blatantly broke the rules that had been agreed between the SFA, the SPFL, and the Scottish government, which, to put it mildly, is completely unacceptable.”
The individuals involved here have made a big error and, hopefully, it’s a learning moment for the rest of Scottish football.
With the industry going through a period of real uncertainty we need players, the most high-profile figures in the game, to take responsibility and set an example.
It sounds like this is sinking in for Hayes.
In other news, Chris Sutton has raised doubt about Celtic’s defence and has urged transfer action.
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