Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has opened up on the ‘scary’ situation that led to several members of the club’s squad and playing staff being diagnosed with Covid-19.
In total, nine players and five staff members tested positive for the virus, which forced the entire first-team bubble to self isolate for 10 days.
The outbreak impacted several games, including Liverpool’s FA Cup third round tie earlier this month.
No first-team players were involved for the game at Villa Park, with the home side forced to field a side made up of Under-23 and Under-18 players.
Then a few days later, Villa’s Premier League match against Everton was postponed, as was a clash against Tottenham Hotspur.
Smith has opened up on how the outbreak happened, and the ‘scary’ emotions that he felt while being forced to self isolate.
“It was very scary," Smith told the Daily Mail, who returned a negative result but still had to isolate. “We produced total negative tests on New Year's Eve and then played Manchester United the following day.
“We were tested again on January 3 and there were nine positives. That raised an alarm straight away and we were tested the following day, and then we got another five positives after that.
“It was a little bit worrying because nobody knew how it happened as we followed the protocols. Our bubble had been compromised.
“It was a scary time because you didn't really want to touch anything as you didn't know how the virus was being transmitted. We had a nutritionist running around getting shopping delivered to players and staff.
“A lot of the players, and staff, were asymptomatic but some symptoms crept up on people. I told one of the players that he'd had a positive test and he felt fine. He said ‘No chance, I'm in a good place’. Two days later when I spoke to him he was lying in bed with aches and pains.
“Our doctor was outstanding. He had his hands full dealing with the Premier League as they wanted to know what would happen with our fixtures. It was all hands to the pump and I thought we dealt with it really well.”
Villa's clash with Everton is still to be rearranged.
