Political journalist Torcuil Crichton has joked that potentially playing football matches behind closed doors in Scotland proves there are "no lengths" people won't go to in a bid to prevent Celtic winning nine-in-a-row.

The Westminster Editor for Daily Record was being interviewed on the BBC about coronavirus and the news that games could be played without supporters in the stands as the deadly virus outbreak worsens.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned earlier that large scale gatherings, including football matches, could be in danger of being scrapped or at least played on a lower scale in terms of people involved.

And among his advice for moving forward in dealing with the issue, Mr Crichton had a laugh at the SPFL and SFA's expense regarding Celtic's title chances. "We ought to move onto the delay phase which is bringing in the social distancing that we've seen in other countries," Crichton said. 

"It means encouraging people to work from home if possible, it might mean closing schools and cancelling large scale gatherings.

"That might mean, as we've heard on the news, playing football matches behind closed doors. Seems there are no lengths people won't go to stop Celtic winning the league this year."

It comes as the SPFL and SFA warned that if even ONE club within the Scottish league system is compromised, it could mean the league season concludes early.

SPFL chief Neil Doncaster said: "We are taking a pragmatic approach to the current situation and have alerted our members to the fact that, if the outbreak affects the first team of even one SPFL club, it could make completing the SPFL season very difficult, so first-team players and staff should be extremely vigilant.

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"Whilst the current, clear advice is that matches should proceed as scheduled, we will obviously prepare for contingencies where matches might have to be played behind closed doors, or even be cancelled, as we have already seen with other major sporting events.

"With that in mind, we have alerted the Scottish Government to the dire financial consequences facing clubs if the current situation changes and clubs are unable to generate revenue from ticket sales."

Players have already been warned to avoid taking selfies with fans or attending supporter events in a bid to prevent the disease from spreading.