Celtic have faced a barrage of criticism over the trip and 13 players are currently self-isolating
Scott Brown has defended Celtic’s trip to Dubai as the fallout continues.
A total of 13 players are currently self-isolating after defender Christopher Jullien tested positive for Covid-19, with both manager Neil Lennon and his assistant John Kennedy also in self-isolation.
Fans were bemused by images of the club in sunny climes so soon after their side’s 1-0 defeat against Rangers at Ibrox, and many questioned the wisdom of flying out for a non-essential journey at the height of a pandemic.
Brown, however, has issued a defence of the trip.
As quoted by the Scottish Sun, he said: “Everyone is going to question everything – that’s the modern-day era.
“Everyone has a say in everything we do these days.
“We got the okay from the government and we made sure we followed the guidelines from there.
“We went out and worked hard on training – that’s what the whole thing was for us.
“People don’t see our training daily or see how hard we worked.
“Sometimes you’re allowed to sit on the sunbeds and have some down-time as well.
“What we do away from the cameras in training is for us to benefit in games.
“As you’ve seen in the last three or four seasons, we’ve come back from Dubai and done really well because we work extremely hard.
“It’s all about the preparation for the next five or six months of the season.
“The manager’s philosophy, which he puts on to us, is how we can work in different ways and different shapes.
“We worked on that all week and that’s what Dubai has been for us in the last three or four seasons now.”
Brown was unavailable on Monday night as Celtic were held 1-1 at home by his former club Hibs, with Kevin Nisbet’s injury-time equaliser cancelling out David Turnbull’s free-kick.
That result leaves Celtic 21 points behind rivals Rangers, with three games in hand.
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