Council inspectors on standby to pass Tynecastle for Partick game
● Serious doubts over new stand’s readiness but city chiefs eager to help
City of Edinburgh Council will make safety officers available throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday should Hearts need a last-minute inspection of their new stand for the Ladbrokes Premiership match against Partick Thistle.
Builders are working through the night tonight and will work overtime until the end of the week in the hope of finishing the new-look Tynecastle Park.
Building standards officials visited the site on Monday but a number of issues prevented them signing off a safety certificate for the £12 million main stand. They will return for another inspection today and again later in the week if required.
There are still seats to be installed at the Roseburn end of the new stand and, although most of the cladding has been fitted, signage and the concourse need attention. Other areas of the structure must also be completed but the council are keen to do everything to help Hearts.
It is understood safety inspectors will be on hand throughout the weekend if needed to assess whether the stand has passed all the legal checks.
Provided work is done to meet the required regulations, the council are prepared to issue a general safety certificate at the very last minute to allow Hearts to host Partick Thistle at 3pm on Sunday.
The council’s culture & communities convener, Cllr Donald Wilson, said: “Public safety is quite rightly our primary concern, as it is for Hearts, and the Council is doing all it can to help the club reopen Tynecastle in time for Sunday’s match. Further inspections are planned for today and later in the week, if required.”
Should time run out on Hearts, chairwoman Ann Budge will ask the Scottish Professional Football League to postpone Sunday’s match. Hearts have been in constant dialogue with the SPFL and will keep communication lines open throughout the week.
All concerned remain hopeful work will be completed in time and a temporary certificate granted to allow the match to go ahead as planned. Hearts have already contacted Partick to brief them on the situation and are desperate to avoid a postponement.
So far, Partick have been told that the match will go ahead and are preparing as such. The Glasgow club enjoy a cordial relationship with their Gorgie counterparts and it is believed they would not be unduly difficult to deal with over a possible postponement.
Thousands of fans would be inconvenienced if the stand did not open given tickets have been sold, and many supporters have already made travel arrangements.
The decision will be a late one and builders on the project are working frantically to finish different jobs in the new stand, which was originally due to open in September. That date was put back to 5 November but, with work still not completed, a further delay was announced and a new opening date set for this Sunday.
Hearts are doing everything
bly cost us. We’ve been relying on young boys, who, at the age of 16 like Harry Cochrane, pictured, it’s a big ask, especially at a club like Hearts if you are not winning.
“Young Harry came in and did brilliantly, but he’s only 16, he’s a small guy and there are bigger and stronger players who might just bully him. That will be a great experience for him and he’ll only get better.
“Against Kilmarnock it was a disappointing result even though we played better in the second half. We need to kick on and move forward now.”
Berra won his 41st cap for Scotland during the international break. The big defender was encouraged by the performance against Netherlands, in which four players made their debuts for the Scots, although he was frustrated by the way the only goal possible to stick to that schedule. However, they are bracing themselves in case time runs out.
In that event, they would be forced to wait and open the new Tynecastle Park a week on Saturday against Ross County – assuming all paperwork is in place.
Since being eliminated from the Betfred Cup in July, all of Hearts’ matches have taken place away from their spiritual home. Four “home” ties have been staged at BT Murrayfield, which has become the club’s temporary home. Murrayfield cannot host football matches during November due to Scotland rugby internationals being played there, leaving Hearts with no room to manoeuvre.
Hearts said in a statement: of the game was conceded in the 1-0 defeat.
“I thought the new lads all did well. It was a big game to come into against a top nation,” said Berra.
“The Dutch still have good individual players at the minute (but) maybe they’re not the best team. You could maybe see why they haven’t qualified for the World Cup as well. There was a bit of a slow tempo.
“I never felt exhausted, I was just moving from side to side, I didn’t have much to do technically. It was more being switched on for a ball over your shoulder and stuff like that.
“But to make their debuts against them, I thought the “Work is continuing at a considerable pace with a view to being ready for Sunday’s 3pm kick-off against Partick Thistle.”
The decision to build a stand was made to upgrade Tynecastle at an original estimate of £12 million. Through the Foundation of Hearts fan group, supporters are contributing £3m to its cost.
The new structure will contain state-of-the-art dressing rooms, media facilities, hospitality suites, a Skyline restaurant and a piazza area outside. The frontage will be named the Foundation Plaza to mark the contribution from the fans.
The whole project is not due for completion until summer 2018, when the new main stand will be fully operational on every level. It will increase Tynecastle’s capacity to more than 20,000 people. midfielders – Callum Mcgregor and Ryan Christie – were very composed and could be pleased with their performances.
“I thought we created a lot more chances than the Dutch and maybe we should have taken a couple. They punished us on a counter attack basically when we had the ball in a good position.
“They intercepted it and broke and took out a couple of our players and in the end there was nothing really Craig Gordon or I could do about it.
“They worked it well. We showed them wide, Ryan Babel’s put in a good cross and Memphis Depay couldn’t miss. Apart from that Craig didn’t have much to do.” Former Manchester United and Burnley winger Chris Eagles could become Owen Coyle’s first Ross County signing after arriving in Dingwall as a trialist.
The experienced Englishman, who has twice signed for Coyle in deals totalling more than £4 million, has been a free agent since opting to leave Port Vale in the summer.
The League Two club offered Eagles a short-term deal late last week but are still awaiting an answer.
Oldham and several other League One and Two clubs in England are also said to be keen on the 31-year-old, but with his best career spells coming under Coyle at Burnley and Bolton he is said to be keen to test himself in Scotland.
Coylesaid: “Chris has come in to train with us this week. It’s a chance for us to look at him and assess where he is fitness-wise.
“It also gives him an opportunity to look at us while myself and Sandy take a good look at him to see if there’s anything he could add to the squad.
“He’s a free agent – he finished last season at Port Vale, where he did very well but left for a move to Dubai which broke down eventually.”
Eagles, a crowd-pleasing flair player, started out in Watford’s youths but soon caught the eye of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Old Trafford scouts.
After just 12 first-team outings in five years under Ferguson, as well as four loan spells in England and Netherlands, Coyle took him to Burnley for a £1.2 million fee. He made well over a century of appearances – and was close to a 2010 move to Rangers before negotiations broke down.
After moving to manage Bolton, Coyle then paid £3 million in a joint-deal for Eagles and Burnley teammate Tyrone Mears. l Danny Williams has left Dundee by mutual consent.
The English winger joined from Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2016 and made 31 appearances for Dundee.
“The club would like to thank Danny for his efforts during his time at Dens and wish him all the best for the future,” said Dundee in a statement. Sky Sports Main Event, 7:30pm Live from the O2, London Sky Sports Main Event, 7:30pm Coverage from Wolverhampton. Eurosport 1, 6:30am & 11:30am Graeme Dott, Alan Mcmanus, Stephen Maguire and John Higgins at the table