IT’S A MINEFIELD!
CORONAVIRUS CRISIS Annan a cautionary tale as lower league clubs aim to return
ANNAN Athletic secretary Alan Irving admits the League Two side are ‘in bits’ after four players tested positive for coronavirus.
The quartet travelled to training together in the same car unaware that one had contracted the virus, potentially as a result of his day job in Glasgow.
A pre-season game against Queen of the South scheduled for Tuesday night was cancelled.
And Irving admits the club hierarchy have no idea if they’ll be allowed to play another game before facing Premiership side Hamilton in the Betfred Cup on October 6, with the news serving as a reminder about the precarious nature of the return of the lower leagues next month.
Awaiting the outcome of Track and Trace interviews with the infected players, Annan are also awaiting guidance on whether to isolate all four — or shut down the club for the next two weeks.
‘We are basically in limbo at the moment awaiting feedback on whether the entire squad has to be quarantined,’ Irving told
Sportsmail.
‘The Track and Trace are doing their job with the four players at the moment and we are waiting on them coming back.
‘Our players are automatically temperature tested as things stand. I think we will now have to have the players swabbed before we play Hamilton in the opening game of the Betfred Cup on October 6.
‘All clubs are trying to find a way through this, but this has left us in a difficult situation at the moment. This has hit us very suddenly and we are trying to pick the bits up now.
‘Because the original player was receiving physio treatment, our physio is in isolation now as well.
‘It’s a minefield — but we have to find a way through. We provisionally have a game against Dalbeattie Star on September 26. We hope that can still go ahead, but right now we just don’t know.’
Revealing how the virus found its way into the club via community transmission in the first place, Irving outlined the huge issue facing Scottish football in the coming weeks.
While Premiership clubs are tested every seven days and maintain the illusion of a bio-secure ‘bubble’, part-time players hold down day jobs in the community.
And the Annan situation illustrates how difficult it will be to protect and safeguard Premiership opponents from community transmission when the Betfred Cup gets under way.
‘The player who originally tested positive was at the club on Tuesday night for physiotherapy,’ explained Irving. ‘He didn’t actually take part in the training session. On Thursday, two days later, he was sent home from his day job feeling unwell.
‘He is in the type of job where he is in and around various peoples’ houses in the Glasgow area. He could quite easily have picked it up in the community.
‘He didn’t attend training on Thursday night and was tested on Friday. He was informed of a positive result on the Saturday.
‘There were another three players who travelled down with the lad on the Tuesday night.
‘The others then came down on the Thursday night without him and one of them wasn’t feeling well.
‘He was then tested on the Sunday and got his result on Monday saying he was positive.
‘The other two travelling companions are asymptomatic. They are showing no ill effects.
‘But I believe they have tested positive as well.’
The SFA and SPFL Joint Response Group held talks with National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch yesterday to discuss the latest outbreaks in Scottish football.
Hamilton also have a total of four players isolating, albeit the most recent three who tested positive have now returned negative results. Dundee United defender Mark Connolly has been charged by the SFA with breaching Covid-19 rules, with a hearing scheduled for October 1.
The row over St Mirren being ordered to play a game despite two goalkeepers testing positive, meanwhile, continues to rumble.
Amongst senior Hampden figures, the approach is that the show must go on.
Irving added: ‘That was us into our second week of training, all going well.
‘Now this has happened and we are shut down probably for 14 days until we get the okay before we play Hamilton in the Betfred Cup on October 6.’