Boli Bolingoli on catastrophic Celtic spell as flop finally admits 'mistake' that nearly shut Scottish football down

Celtic flop Boli Bolingoli has finally broken his silence over his Covid breach which saw First Minister Nicola Sturgeon threaten to shut down Scottish football and admitted he made a 'mistake'. Bolingoli made front page headlines in August 2020 when he went on a trip to Spain and failed to quarantine after returning and didn't inform the Parkhead club where he had been. He played the next game against Kilmarnock before his actions came to light.

It led to then-Hoops manager Neil Lennon blasting his 'appalling behaviour' and the First Minister threatened to pause the football season and attacked 'privileged footballers' following his breach of the Covid rules. Bolingoli was effectively frozen out after being handed a three-match ban and was farmed out to Basaksehir on loan in Turkey and then signed for Russian club Ufa, before the deal was scrapped because of the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Celtic chairman Ian Bankier later claimed Celtic were 'astonishingly treated' by the Scottish Government over the incident. The 27-year-old finally returned to his homeland this summer with Mechelen and has finally spoken about his regret.

Bolingoli said: "I received criticism from Neil Lennon and also from Nicola Sturgeon for what happened. That was a mistake, just as everyone can make mistakes. Celtic eventually turned the page on that chapter and so have I. I wanted to improve further in Scotland. I played a strong first season at Celtic and we won the league.

"But in football, there are highs and lows. I suffered a knee injury that delayed my development a bit and then came the incident. After that I was supposed to go to FC Ufa. I had just signed the deal, but had not actually been to the club because we were on a