The boss of the controversial Euro 2020 fan zone in Glasgow has insisted he’s “not nervous” that Covid could spread there.
Billy Garrett, director of sport and events for Glasgow Life, claimed safeguards and restricted numbers will mean there is very low risk of infection at Glasgow Green.
And he said he was confident there was no risk of drunken disorder like that seen as Rangers fans celebrated their title win last month.
Garrett said: “I’m not nervous. I’m excited and I’m confident and we stand ready to respond to the ever changing situation.”
Public health experts have warned of the dangers of allowing 3000 people to gather at a venue where alcohol will be served.
Pub bosses have also accused Glasgow City Council of double standards by giving the green light to it while imposing draconian rules on them.
But Garrett said the fan zone can be a trial run for events throughout summer.
He said: “This will be the most heavily managed, heavily stewarded, closely policed and monitored outdoor event in the country so far.
“People will be in pubs and beer gardens all over Scotland and all eyes will be on us. But no corners have been cut and we’ve taken stringent measures to get it right.
“The Euros aren’t going to be the event we originally envisaged. The fan zone was going to be 10,000 people in George Square and we were going to have a full capacity Hampden.
"As it has turned out we’ve set up at Glasgow Green and we’re not going to have a capacity 80,000 crowd here, we’re going to have 3000 and we’re going to have 12,000 at Hampden.”
Glasgow Life, an “arm’s length” body which runs leisure services for Glasgow City Council, is laying on big screens and stages for concerts at the fan zone
Garrett said the city council and partners including the Scottish Government and Police Scotland were ready to change plans if Covid dictates.
He said: “We accept people are nervous. We will monitor the situation and if we think there is any intervention we need to make then we will make it.
“We are not complacent. There’s been a collaborative multi-agency approach to this event, working with all the partners, the police, clinicians and the Scottish Government and this is one of their gateway events for recovery.”
Garrett insisted it would a family occasion at which drunken behaviour would not be tolerated.
He added: “We have stewards on place to deal with any boisterous behaviour and I’m confident we wouldn’t have to pull the plug on the entire event if one or two people misbehave.
"But people need to remember what we’re talking about here. People perhaps think of loads of people standing close together watching a screen, with big pints of beer in their hands.
“That’s not really what’s happening – there’s picnic benches, families, schools and clubs coming down. And it’s outdoors. There will be some public parks busier than Glasgow Green on match days, I suspect.
“If anyone does want to ruin it for others then we’ll be able to deal with it. We don’t expect anything like the George Square incident at Glasgow Green or at Hampden. It’s just not that kind of event.”
Garrett said he hoped fans would take up the offer of testing prior to entry at Glasgow Green.
He said: “Testing is not mandatory in Scotland but we will be encouraging everyone coming here to do so. It’s part of the suite of measures.”
Garrett said a successful fan zone would give the hospitality industry a huge boost. The wider tourist economy in Glasgow is worth £770million.
He said: “If we can demonstrate through this event that it’s possible to start bringing people back into the city, that can only be good for the licensed and entertainment sector.
“So it’s good for everyone if we can get this event under our belt.”
