Hibs chief executive Ben Kensell has pointed the finger at Rangers as the “source of the information” that has seen 19 Hibs players and three staff hit by the Covid outbreak at Easter Road and caused the postponement of Premiership clashes with Ross County and Livingston.
Hibs chief executive Ben Kensell thinks a Rangers fans was the source of the Covid claims. Picture: Alan Rennie
The Easter Road side saw Saturday’s game in Dingwall postponed after a number of positive tests, with the hastily-rearranged date on Wednesday also canned following further instances of Covid being found.
That’s also saw this weekend’s clash with Livingston postponed and Kensell admits he is “disappointed” after a whistleblower went public with claims of Hibs players breaching Covid guidelines at their Inverness hotel last week.
While Kensell claims the whistleblower is a Rangers fan, he insists there are “much, much bigger” challenges to be dealt with than directly responding to the accusations.
“Firstly I’d look at the source of the information and it unsurprisingly comes from the blue side of Glasgow, which is a point of speculation in itself,” Kensell said.
“I’m confident in our processes and having investigated the claims, I trust our staff and players to carry out what’s required, to mitigate the spread of Covid. They’re aware of their responsibilities.
“What I don’t want to do is focus on a comment from someone who is completely unrelated and is just looking to create trouble. We’re talking about a much wider and larger issue that’s affecting the whole country here.
“And we’ve got one individual that just wants to create headlines. I find it disappointing at the very best.
“I’m disappointed that either the things the people are saying are substantiated, or disappointed that our players didn’t keep our masks on.
“That’s what I mean by disappointed. Ultimately, what I’m trying to deal with here is a real life situation that is affecting everyone; affecting our squad – it’s decimated our squad. I’m only interested in the welfare of our players, our staff and our fans
“I’m not interested in answering questions that’s just speculation or tabloid speculation, or anything of that nature. There are much, much bigger challenges here to deal with at Hibs than what one individual says in a hotel.”
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