PARTICK Thistle are furious at being left in the dark regarding whether their Ladbrokes Premiership match with Hearts on Sunday will go ahead as planned.
As things stood late last night, the Firhill club had been given no real clear indication about if Tynecastle will be ready in time for the fixture to take place and the fear within Firhill was that the match would have to be re-arranged.
Hearts’ new £14 million main stand has yet to receive a safety certificate but it is feared that procedure will take longer than usual because the council would want to avoid any perception, wrongly or otherwise, that a safety certificate was rushed through so the match could take place.
The Edinburgh club were last night still advertising tickets on their website; however, time now does seem to be against them.
Hearts insiders hope they have until Friday before they would have to send a request to the SPFL to postpone the fixture. But Thistle believe a decision should be made today; rather than them having to wait 48 hours before the game is supposed to kick-off.
Alan Archibald, the Partick manager, has been left deeply frustrated because he is unsure whether a game will take place, a postponement today would obviously affect his training schedule, and there would be a rush for him to organise a bounce game for his first-team who have been inactive during the international break.
Workers have been ordered to work nightshifts over the coming days in a bid to bring Tynecastle up to scratch in time for Sunday. Council officials plan to visit Tynecastle at the tail end of the week for another inspection.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here