Kilmarnock skipper Gary Dicker claims clubs and fellow pros have been treated like criminals by Scottish football chiefs over Covid cases.
Dicker insists the English FA and Premier League have dealt with difficult issues far better.
Kilmarnock and St Mirren were fined and handed 3-0 league losses before winning appeals while Old Firm players have been hit with lengthy bans.
Dicker said: “It’s been difficult the way the whole Covid thing has been handled up here.
“It’s like you’re a criminal if you have Covid or a football club has it.
“It’s only now they’re probably realising that teams have been doing their best to fight this.
“If you look at England, it’s been handled better.
“I’ve spoken to lads down there and they’ve had 18 or 19 cases at one club.
“We had a few up here and people wanted us locked away and burnt to the ground. Everyone’s doing their best.
“Some people have broken rules but that happens, in sport or other areas of life. This has been difficult for everyone.
“We’ve not even been able to be in the same dressing-room. If you change dressing-rooms and something happens - they can’t wait to jump all over you.”
When Leicester players broke Covid rules, they were dealt with by boss Brendan Rodgers and left out of the next game.
Dicker says players’ mental health should also be taken into account after Bolton midfielder Marcus Maddison revealed he’s ready to quit the game.
He said: “Most of the things up in Scotland has been young players making mistakes. I know what they did was wrong but are you telling me it hasn’t been happening every weekend across the country?
“There are ways of dealing with it. I don’t think people need to be hung out to dry all the time.
“The players at Leicester were fined and it was done in-house. You don’t see people asking for games to be taken off them.
“There’s a boy at Bolton who is on loan and staying in a hotel. He wasn’t able to cope and is going to step away from football.
“It could have been handled better if we’d not gone to town on every situation here with Covid.”
