The Scottish Government has given a tentative green light for plans to allow supporters to get back into their favourite venues as soon as August.
And Record Sport understands the new talks could even lead to Celtic fans returning to Parkhead in time for the opening day of the new top flight campaign to celebrate the unfurling a ninth successive top flight flag.
We told earlier this month how the Premiership champions had joined forces with Scottish Rugby Union bosses to propose that both Celtic Park and BT Murrayfield could be used to stage ‘test events’ to prove that fans can be returned to both stadiums in bio-secure environments.
Now we can reveal that the SRU hopes to be given the go ahead to open the turnstiles to a crown of around 1,000 for the Pro 14 derby between Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh on August 22.
And we understand Celtic are also finalising the details on their own plans which could even see a similar trial run staged in Glasgow’s East End before the big kick off on August 1.
News of the Holyrood green light has been confirmed in a letter sent to all Scotland’s rugby clubs by the SRU’s chief operating officer Dominic McKay - who has been working closely with Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell on the Covid-19 combat plan.
In the letter he reveals that top level discussions with the government took place last Thursday.
And McKay says: “We met with Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, along with Scottish Rugby colleagues. In the meeting we explained our current plans for the sport at all levels and we proposed the use of BT Murrayfield as a potential test venue with circa 1000 spectators on Saturday 22 August for the Warriors v Edinburgh 1872 PRO14 match.
“We are pleased to announce that the Cabinet Secretary, supported by Scottish Government’s National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch and Andy Sinclair from Active Scotland, agreed to consider a formal Scottish Rugby plan for a BT Murrayfield test event in August, subject to agreed public health mitigations.
“This is a welcome sign and demonstrates the dedication of the government to get sport in Scotland, elite and community, back up and running as soon as is practical.”
The fast-tracked return of supporters to Scotland’s sporting stadia is seen as vital for the future financial health of sport in this country as it battles the catastrophic economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
It had been feared that fans may be locked out of grounds for the rest of 2020 with all matches played behind closed doors.
But Celtic hope to prove that fans can be safely returned to their own ground and are working on plans to let limited numbers in for a pre-season friendly before the end of next month.
And an SRU source told us last night: “This has the potential to be a hugely significant breakthrough as far as professional sport in this country is concerned. Our own detailed proposals for August 22 sill be submitted to the government in the next week or so.
“Football would like to work to a slightly different, accelerated timescale and we have been working hand in glove with Celtic to put these plans together. It could be the first test event would take place at Celtic Park before the date proposed for BT Murrayfield.
“But what we both want to achieve is to prove that these test events are both credible and able to be scaled up when the government are satisfied it is safe for us to do so.”
Celtic will step up their pre-season preparations at a training base in Loughborough before flying out to France for friendly matches in Lyon and Paris.
It’s believed they are currently in talks with various possible opponents for friendly dates later in July at Celtic Park.
