PARTICK Thistle and Hearts won’t find out until this lunchtime at the earliest if tomorrow’s scheduled Ladbrokes Premiership clash at Tynecastle will go ahead – but the Maryhill outfit have pledged to fight the matter with the SPFL in the event the match is cancelled at the 11th hour.
Despite even youth team players being engaged in tasks such as putting numbers on seats this week, the club’s new £14 million stand had still not been granted a safety certificate last night, with Hearts owner Ann Budge scheduling construction staff to work through the night – just as they did on Monday and Wednesday evening – to get the project finished.
A final attempt to convince Edinburgh City Council’s assessors that the structure can safely be occupied will come this lunchtime – should their work fail, the club will contact Partick Thistle and the SPFL to formally request a postponement.
Thistle too are desperate to get the match played, as failure to do so could see them play just once in November, with eight games already scheduled for the month of December.
Having dealt constructively with Hearts’ request to reverse their home and away fixtures to facilitate the stadium upgrade in the first place, manager Alan Archibald understandably baulks at the suggestion he should be asked to fit a ninth match into that period and questions whether the issues are financial rather than footballing ones.
“If the game is called off then it would absolutely kill us in terms of fixtures because it would mean just one game in November,” said Archibald. “We helped Hearts out in the first place by reversing the fixtures because that gave us a tough November with three away games to Rangers, Celtic and Hearts.
“We’ve got eight games in December as it stands and if this game goes then having another one is no use to us. It wouldn’t suit us at all and we’d fight it.
“I’ve been told BetFred Cup games have been played at Tynecastle this season and asked why it can’t be the case on Sunday,” he added. “It is probably down to a finance thing but it’s unfair if we’re forced to plan nine games in December just to help Hearts out financially.”
The difficulties of the situation for players and coaches is one thing; it is hardly ideal for supporters to find out at less than 24 hours’ notice whether the match will go ahead either.
“As far as we’ve been told the game is going ahead so we’ve trained towards that but it’s impossible to avoid the stories,” said Archibald. “We’ve tried to put out the players’ minds but every day you pick up the newspaper and there’s another story about a possible delay in the stand opening.
“We’re in the same boat as Hearts where we just want the game on and our whole week has been working on the shape of the team to try and win the game,” he added. “The uncertainty over this game isn’t fair on the fans because they might have adjusted plans for the weekend.”
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