St Mirren chairman John Needham has said that he plans to write to the SPFL about amending their COVID-19 rules and protocols following the confusion about whether or not last night’s game against Celtic would go ahead. The game proceeded despite Jim Goodwin being forced to resort to youth players to assemble his matchday squad.
Celtic struggled to convert their possession and attempts into goals in the draw against St Mirren last night. Ange Postecoglou fielded a side with a number of forced changes to face Goodwin’s men but was forced to leave with a point. Now, Needham has addressed the issues surrounding the game in a statement on the club’s website.
“Now that the dust has settled on a difficult day for everyone at the club I wanted to write to all of our fans.
“Firstly, I wish to apologise for any uncertainty surrounding whether the Celtic fixture would proceed and any inconvenience caused. Everyone at the club was working flat out to try to work through the difficulties caused by COVID infections amongst our employees and I want to thank all of our staff for their unstinting efforts.
“Next I must thank Jim Goodwin and his staff for a heroic performance on the pitch and the professional way everyone handled last night in the face of such adversity. I was extremely proud of every single player and I’m sure everyone watching would have been impressed by their application and fitness.
“On behalf of the Board I also want to record our disappointment at the situation we found ourselves in throughout yesterday. We understand that rules exist and are essential for the fair conduct of sporting competitions.
“However in the current pandemic we also feel that there needs to be judicious application of the rules, in this case, to take account of the law and guidance issued by Government around testing and isolation. We do not believe the rigid application of rules, agreed in a different set of circumstances, is appropriate or fair.
PAISLEY, SCOTLAND – DECEMBER 22: Scott Tanser of St. Mirren is challenged by Owen Moffat of Celtic during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between St. Mirren FC and Celtic FC at on December 22, 2021 in Paisley, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“We had to take the field last night without 11 of our first team squad and a substitutes’ bench where none of the players had played first team football for the club. Indeed the situation would have been worse had we not received negative PCR Test results around 6pm allowing the players in question and their Close Contacts to play.
“If those tests had been positive we would have been forced to field all of the players listed as substitutes in the starting line-up.
“We plan to write to the SPFL to highlight the difficulties we faced and our view of the need for change.”
Celtic’s pre-match preparations would have been hampered by the constant reports that the Saints were asking for the game to be postponed. In all likelihood, if Celtic had the choice, they would have have wanted the game to be postponed but they still persisted despite the injuries across the squad.
Celtic will play St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Boxing Day before the Winter Break kicks in. St Mirren, meanwhile, will travel to Ibrox to play in front of 500 people after the Scottish Government moved to limit football supporters.
