Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell has apologised for the club’s controversial decision to travel to Dubai for a mid-season break.
The Scottish Premiership champions confirmed Christopher Jullien had tested positive for coronavirus following their return to Scotland last week.
But 13 players, along with Celtic boss Neil Lennon and assistant John Kennedy were deemed to be close contacts and were forced to self-isolate.
It led to the Hoops fielding a makeshift side in Monday’s 1-1 draw with Hibernian.
Speaking in an in-house interview on the club’s official website, Lawwell said: “It has been an extremely difficult few days.
“On reflection, looking back and with hindsight and looking at the outcome of the trip, clearly it was a mistake and for that I profoundly apologise to our supporters.
“We left here and the rationale for the camp was very much with the best intentions.
“Things haven’t gone the way we wanted to and the outcome is clearly very regrettable.”
Celtic are 21 points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers with three games in hand on their rivals.
However, their hopes of winning 10 successive titles are at serious risk.
Lawwell added: “If you look back over the last four years, going to the camp in Dubai has been extremely successful.
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“And the decisions we made in entirely for the best interests of the team and the best interests of the club.
“What we planned to do was take them to these facilities again, which are world-class, after a very hectic programme in November and December. which has in the past proven to be a great benefit in terms of performance after January, to get to that performance level again.”