Government director delivers fresh blow for Rangers fans in update on possible Ibrox return

The Scottish Government’s National Clinical Director has said that there won’t be big crowds at Scottish football games this season in what is a fresh blow for Rangers fans.

Jason Leitch’s comments follow news that St Mirren’s match against Hamilton has been called off after the entire squad were forced to go into self-isolation.

Leitch appeared on BBC Scotland’s Off The Ball show and said that while big crowds won’t be seen in Scotland this season, there could ‘potentially’ be small crowds in some parts of the country.

He said, “You can see yourself what happens when the virus gets into a club. But that’s true in a workplace, it would be true in the BBC, it would be true at my Government offices.

“So when it gets into a place of work like St Mirren or Hamilton then it does become a big challenge, and that’s why the mitigations and the rules that the teams and their support staff are following are so crucial.

“So I think if that can be controlled we can get to the end. I don’t think we’ll have big crowds this season, and we’ve said that many, many times before. We may have small crowds in some parts of the country potentially.”

This news will come as blow to Rangers fans as the wait goes on to watch their side in the flesh once again. Gers fans have had to watch a record-breaking start to the season that has included numerous European wins and an Old Firm victory all from the comfort of their own homes.

Rangers did play in front of fans for the first time in a while when they took on Standard Liege in the Europa League on Thursday. Unfortunately, it was just home supporters that were allowed in and Gers fans have now been robbed of away trips to Belgium, Poland and Portugal this season.

Leitch’s comments do raise hope that some fans may be able to watch live football before the end of the season, which would come as a small boost as Rangers will hopefully be looking to wrap up the title at the back end of the season.

But his comments were also very vague and it is clearly hard for him to commit to a definitive timeline in the ever-changing world we currently live in.

In other Rangers news, Gerrard drops big Rangers fitness update ahead of Livingston game.