The eight Aberdeen players who broke lockdown rules have apologised to fans, their boss, the first minister and Scotland's NHS staff.
The group of players has been named as Sam Cosgrove, Scott McKenna, Craig Bryson, Jonny Hayes, Bruce Anderson, Dylan McGeouch, Michael Devlin and Matty Kennedy.
Two of the players tested positive for Covid-19 after a night out in Aberdeen last Saturday,. The remaining six players subsequently self-isolated.
Aberdeen FC's game with St Johnstone was postponed following pressure from the Scottish Government, with Nicola Sturgeon saying she was "furious" at the footballers.
A statement released by the players on Saturday stated the incident was a "genuine error".
It read: "First and foremost we would like to apologise to every AFC fan, the mananger, everyone at the club, the football authorities, the First Minister, all healthcare workers along with everyone else that has worked tirelessly around the clock to get the country, and in particular football, back up and running again.
"We, as a small group of players, made a huge error of judgement last weekend by thinking it was OK to visit a city centre venue together.
The group of players have asked us to issue this statement on their behalf pic.twitter.com/uodV9RK9lI
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) August 8, 2020
"None of us could have foreseen the escalation of Covid-19 cases in the Grampian area, nor did we deliberately attempt to flaunt or disobey Government guidelines which we all must adhere to, or indeed the clear guidelines set out by the club.
"This was by no means a team night out as has been portrayed and while we attempted to comply with government social distancing guidelines, we now recognise that our group of eight exceeded the number of households permitted to meet up. This was a genuine error on our part as professional football players and, in doing so, we have let our manager down.
“As players we appreciate our club has gone above and beyond to put protocols in place to protect us and it was never our intention to put that in jeopardy, or to put our team-mates or football staff at risk.
“As a player group, we once again apologise unreservedly to the fans, the manager, the board and all the staff at the club.”
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