Hibs chief Ben Kensell has rubbished suggestions the club could be punished for the Covid outbreak that’s led to games against Ross County and Livingston being postponed.
Fifteen players and three members of staff have now tested positive for the virus with Kensell revealing only eight players were available for Wednesday night’s rearranged match in Dingwall which was subsequently cancelled.
The club’s East Mains base has been closed and all training ceased until bosses are satisfied the virus that has wreaked havoc in the past week has been brought under control.
Hibs next fixture is the League Cup semi final against Rangers at Hampden on Sunday, November 21, almost a full month since they last played in the 3-1 defeat to Celtic.
Kensell had been locked in talks with SPFL chiefs throughout the four days between the two County fixtures being pulled and admitted talks were “fraught”.
But asked if the possibility of sanctions was ever mentioned, Kensell said: “No and there should be no talk about that.
“This is not a case of a battle with anyone. It is purely a case of sharing information and the right outcome has been found in the end.
“I have no fear we will be punished. We have been completely transparent with the information and not at any point have we ever discussed forfeiting matches.
“That wouldn’t be acceptable for me or Jack Ross. We can’t have a league where teams can’t be competitive because of things like this. That’s why rules are in place.”
Hibs’ situation escalated from a player and a member of coaching staff testing positive in the week leading up to Saturday’s fixture to the point where more positive tests plus close contacts on the morning of the game meant Jack Ross couldn’t field a team.
Now eight top team stars as well as seven development players and three members of staff have tested positive while another four are isolating as close contacts.
Kensell says the decision to close the training centre will be reviewed on Monday.
But he is adamant there’s little more Hibs could have done to avoid the outbreak.
He said: “Probably no because we travelled up (to Dingwall) appropriately. It’s not as though we all went on one coach, there were two coaches. We stayed away the night before and we tested all week.
“We found a few cases and we isolated those cases. We have one of the best medical departments in the country so it’s hard to know what we could have done better when, speaking with professionals in NHS Lothian, they back up what we’ve done and point out things we should look out for moving forward.
“For whatever reason it can then rip through a squad very quickly.
“But the way that we have dealt with this is something we would like to share with other clubs and I’d be happy to pick up the phone to anyone who wants that help.
“In all truth, lots of other clubs have been through it and some will probably go through it again.”
Kensell revealed Kevin Nisbet should be okay to join up with the Scotland squad next week. But the situation for Martin Boyle, Josh Doig and Alex Gogic is less clear.
He said: “The impact on Kevin Nisbet is minimal, we expect him to join up with the Scotland team.
“With Martin, it’s down to a period of time he has to stay isolated for and is being discussed currently with the authorities. For our other internationals, it's down to what their governing bodies suggest.”
