Celtic have been dealt a blow in their pre-season preparations after Harrogate Town turned down the chance to play them in a friendly.
The English non-league side admit they are gutted to have to reject the offer to face Neil Lennon's men but manager Simon Weaver had fears over injuries ahead of the National League playoffs.
The Hoops are in England training at the Loughborough University campus and hoped to line up a friendly to get their players ticking over ahead of the new season, which kicks off against Hamilton on August 2.
Lennon's men will face three friendlies in France from next week against Lyon, Nice and PSG but Harrogate have decided against taking on Celtic.
Boss Weaver admits he hopes Celtic will return at another time but he felt it was too big of a risk with just four fit defenders in his squad.
He said: “I received a great phone call from Danny Wilson just the other day, asking if we wanted to play Celtic at Loughborough, all expenses paid
“Under any other circumstances we’d love to have played them. What an opportunity, and what a blow to have to say no.
“But it’s too big a risk for us with the size of our squad and because we only have four defenders available for the play-offs.
"We're walking on egg shells a little bit in that respect. We've got to be very careful at the moment.
“I’m sure Celtic will find another of the play-off sides with a bigger squad who will be able to give them a game, but hopefully that link is forged now.”
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