THE SPFL have been criticised this season for postponing matches too late.
But they’ve gone the other way this time around – after making the early call to postpone two crunch clashes in the Scottish Championship fully THREE days before kick-off.
A general stadium view pre-match during a William Hill Championship match[/caption]
Cappielow Park has no undersoil heating[/caption]
The matches in question are Morton‘s Championship clash with Raith Rovers and Livingston‘s meeting with Airdrie – both of which were scheduled to take place on Saturday.
The former has been put back 24 hours to combat the forecast freezing temperatures in the Inverclyde area.
Despite having covers down on the pitch, Cappielow has no undersoil heating and bosses think the game would have had almost NO chance of going ahead on Saturday.
They wrote: “Following discussions with the SPFL and opposition, we can confirm that this weekend’s William Hill Championship match against Raith Rovers has been moved 24 hours to Sunday 12th January at 3pm.
“Following last Saturday’s postponement, temperatures have dropped further this week and are set to remain close to or below freezing between now and Saturday.
“Friday through to early Saturday morning is set to be extremely cold. With the current forecast in mind, and despite the fact covers have been on the pitch since Monday morning, the match would have almost no chance of going ahead on Saturday.
“Temperatures are forecasted to rise on Saturday afternoon through to Sunday and rescheduling the fixture by 24 hours gives it a much better chance of going ahead. It is preferable to aim for the game to be played this weekend, rather than having to reschedule the game for a midweek date. We have also aimed to make this decision as early as possible to give supporters as much notice as we could.”
The other postponement takes place at Livingston, where even the artificial surface is no guarantee to getting the match played.
Consequently Livi’s clash with Airdrie will attempt to go ahead on Tuesday January 14th at 7.45pm.
The Almondvale side wrote: “Due to the recent heavy snow in Livingston, coupled with the expected freezing temperatures in the coming days, Saturday’s clash with Airdrieonians has been rescheduled for Tuesday 14th January at 7.45pm.
“Despite covers being down on the pitch, and our maintenance team working incredibly hard over recent days, the already cold temperatures coupled with forecasted temperatures of between -7 and -10 over the course of Thursday and Friday means that we had real doubt of their being enough of a thaw to allow for the game to be played on Saturday as planned.
“As such, with the agreement of Airdrieonians and the SPFL, we looked to move the game to the Sunday with temperatures expected to be much better, but a number of external matchday partners were unable to accommodate for then, meaning we’ve had to go into midweek instead.
“An early agreement on the rearranging of the fixture also allows the club to save on some costs which would have been incurred by waiting for the formality of postponing on Saturday, and means our opponents also have plenty of advance notice.
“Tickets for the original fixture date remain valid. Our thanks to Airdrieonians and the SPFL for their cooperation on a swift and prompt solution.”
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
