Hibs’ Head Coach Jack Ross criticised the length of time it took the club to get clarity from the SFA on the procedures to be adopted after influential midfielder Alex Gogic tested positive for Covid-19.
Gogic was then tested through the NHS and cleared but has now been told to self-isolate for 10-days meaning he missed yesterday’s game against Aberdeen at Easter Road.
The club were also unable to train on Saturday although that was a decision Hibs took.
Hibs lost their first game of the season after a clumsy attempted clearance by Martin Boyle resulted in a penalty kick.
Aberdeen’s game management in the second-half was enough to secure the three points and they looked the more likely team to score during that period.
To add insult to injury, man of the match was Ross McCrorie who had been the target of Hibs for several weeks before he decided to join the ‘Dons at the last minute.
Speaking after the final whistle Ross said: “Alex had one test that came back and meant we had to retest him. He was retested privately and through the NHS, which is the guidelines, and both returned negative. His first test result was at a level that he was never infectious, so I had a player who was never infectious who had two negative tests that can’t play. It’s his job, his livelihood and he has been prevented from doing that from, I don’t know if an anomaly is the right word, but a different set of guidelines for footballers.”
“Maybe those who are the area of expertise believe it is the right guidelines to follow then fine, but as I said it will be interesting to see whether it happens further down the line. The one thing I would say is that the length of time it took us to get clarity from the SFA was not good. I would have assumed that they would have protocol in place to give a club quick answers in this situation because I would have anticipated this would have come around.
“If the infection rate through society is increasing then there is a strong possibility that a footballer is going to test positive at some point. “We got a recommendation that perhaps we shouldn’t train on Saturday, but that was not definitive. We made the decision as a club and I made the decision as a manager. They gave some guidance that said you may be able to train in the afternoon but I think that perhaps underestimates the complexities in doing that.”
“It took us a long time to get answers to whether we could train, what we could do, what happens to the player etc. At 10:30pm on Friday evening I still did not know whether i could train on Saturday. I think that’s a long time to get an answer on a pretty straightforward question.I think I’m being fair to be critical in that respect.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
