Michael Weir: Celtic's Dubai trip 'baffling' given the circumstances

The situation is changing all the time; every day something new is coming up.

It's very unfortunate for the players, managers, and supporters and it's horrendous what’s happening. I think we have to take it day by day because of how it’s changing.

I know we all want sport and football but there are people losing their lives. We all miss the game, we all love the game and miss it but we're in such a sitaution that there are more important things in life than football right now.

Why did Celtic go on Dubai trip after losing to rivals?

Regarding Celtic's trip to Dubai, they obviously did what they thought it was okay to do after speaking to the government but the thing that baffled me was why they went in the first place.

Obviously the coronavirus situation is the main point but I can't imagine any manager of any club sanctioning a trip like that after getting beaten by their local rivals.

That's what stumped me. I thought they would have knocked it on the head right away after losing to Rangers at Ibrox.

A while back Billy McNeill telling the Celtic players they could go on holiday after the game and they got beaten by Rangers so he cancelled the trip and donated to charity the money they would have spent on the break.

I don't understand the thinking behind going on a wee holiday just after getting beaten by your local rivals, especially when there's that much of a gap between them at the top of the league.

Maybe it’s the modern way of management but I don't think it sends the right signals to the players or the supporters. I don’t think it was the right decision.

Covid risks can affect players’ mentality

If this had happened when I was still playing, I’m not sure if I would have wanted to go ahead and play the game, or sit it out.

Some players’ families will be telling them not to play and there will be footballers with young families worrying about contracting the virus during the game and bringing it back to their families.

All the players who are playing at the moment have a lot of decisions to make and everyone looks at it differently.

If I was a manager and a player said to me that they didn’t want to play because they were worried, I would completely understand it.

That's the situation clubs are dealing with at the moment.

For managers, it must be so hard working out which players are in the right frame of mind to play football but for me, I would have no problem with a player not wanting to play in the current circumstances.

I was lucky to never experience this during my career – I can't imagine what is going through some players’ minds.

All professional players want to play football but in the current circumstances, having that constant fear of putting yourself and your family at risk must be so hard to deal with.

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