The prospect of playing games behind closed doors to try to stem the spread of coronavirus is "not ideal", says Celtic manager Neil Lennon.

The Scottish FA and Scottish Professional Football League aim to fulfil this season's fixtures, even if it means matches in empty stadiums.

Lennon believes that would harm clubs' finances, but understands measures have to be taken."It's not ideal but they've had to do it in Italy," he said.

"I don't know the financial situation of other clubs but I would say it would be very detrimental to their financial wellbeing."You want to play the games and obviously we want to play them in front of full houses because that's what football is all about."

By Friday afternoon, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Scotland stood at 11, after previous warnings there could be a rapid rise in the coming days.

And Scotland women's Six Nations game with France, which was due to take place at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow on Saturday, was postponed on Friday night after a home player tested positive for coronavirus.

Lennon, whose side have a 13-point lead at the Scottish Premiership summit and host St Mirren on Saturday, is having daily briefings over dealing with potential problems of the virus.

"We've been told not to shake hands with people or stop for selfies or photographs," he added. "That's not us meaning to be rude or anything like that. We have to protect the players and the staff here as much as we can."

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes, meanwhile, has no concerns over the season not being completed due to the outbreak.

"You can worry yourself sick if you start thinking about that," McInnes said.

"The last thing we want to do is have games cancelled and fans not being able to watch. I think we are still a long way away from that, it may well be a reality if we don't take all the measures that have been advised to us."

Posted by voc1967 on Saturday 07 March 2020 - 11:06:31 | Comments (0)  |