Scotland manager Steve Clarke has insisted that the national team has done all it can to protect its players this month.
The Scots were rattled with a positive Covid test in their camp picked up by Southampton midfielder Stuart Armstrong. This then led to Ryan Christie and Kieran Tierney having to self-isolate as they came under the “close contact” rule.
The Scottish Sun reported last week that Christie and Tierney were identified due to simply playing PS4 games with Armstrong on different consoles.
However, Clarke has moved to defend the protocols within the Scotland camp, and believes they’re doing everything in their power to keep the players protected.
As quoted by the Scotsman, Clarke said: “I think we’ve done that, I think the protocols that we’ve put in place have been proven. We had the Covid incident when we first got to the camp and since then all have tested negative.
“This morning in particular we’d have been getting a wee bit further into the period where you’d be getting nervous about it but everyone has come back negative.
“It means that Dr John MacLean and our head of performance Graeme Jones, who are responsible for those Covid protocols, have got it right.”
Scotland must take some responsibility for close contact rule
Clarke is fully praising of the protocols put in place by the Scotland camp. But regardless of how you view it, it can’t be denied that Christie and Tierney were only hauled up AFTER meeting up with the rest of the squad.
Even if the reason for their close contact call-up was bizarre, Scotland’s camp should’ve known about it. Why on earth they’re allowing players to take part in events where the close contact rule comes into force is anyone’s guess.
Perhaps it’s simply down to a lack of clarity from the government, but it should be the Scotland camp’s primary goal to seek that clarity. It’s nothing to do with Celtic or Christie that has seen him now ruled out for Saturday’s derby clash. It all happened under Scotland’s watch.
So it’s a tad poor for Clarke to come away hailing the system put in place when two clubs are now left without key players who didn’t breach any of those same protocols.
Regardless, we can take some good news from the fact that both Callum McGregor and Greg Taylor are continuing to churn out negative tests whilst on international duty.
Hopefully it stays that way, but seeing international managers big up their protocol system is a tad frustrating given the situation we’ve been left in.
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