Partick planning major pitch repairs at end of season
Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald has revealed the Firhill pitch is in line for major repair works this summer - but they never considered an artificial surface despite their fixture backlog.
Firhill was subjected to its fourth postponement of the season on Friday when the waterlogged pitch put paid to the visit of Aberdeen.
Tuesday night's Ladbrokes Premiership encounter against St Johnstone is in little danger, though, with the pitch dried out and no rain forecast.
"Because we have a couple of areas that are really damaged, all it takes is four hours of constant rain and it puts it in doubt," Archibald said. "The forecast is dry so there shouldn't be any problem for Tuesday.
"We will look to re-lay it or definitely get drainage in and fix those areas. We have already had people in to look at it.
"We have not had any problems since the (Glasgow) Warriors were here sharing the pitch. It's been a one-off but we'll have to get it addressed. The problem will be in the summer when it's such a short shutdown with the League Cup starting earlier."
There are some barren patches which are affecting play but Thistle are confident the situation will improve and one unusually wet winter has not led to discussions over artificial turf.
"We spoke about it three seasons ago, the season we came up," Archibald said. "At that point there were two (league) federations controlling it and they said if we went with astro we wouldn't come up.
"Obviously that has changed now but it's not something we have looked at since.
"We have never had a problem, we have only had one game off and the pitch has always been fine, it has never stopped us playing good football.
"Obviously this year it's been highlighted with astro pitches and the media furore about it, and our games being called off hasn't helped, but I'd rather spend money getting the grass pitch as best we can."
St Johnstone's hopes of signing Julien Faubert ended after the former West Ham and Real Madrid midfielder left Scotland to consider other offers.
The 32-year-old was on the trial with Saints last week and got a 45-minute run out against Hearts in a development league game.
However, ahead of the game against Partick, manager Tommy Wright told Press Association Sport that Faubert had left, although 27-year-old ex-Slavia Sofia centre-back Plamen Krachunov would remain on trial for a few more days.
He said: "Julien has gone back, he has had a couple of offers, I believe one in America and another offer.
"I fully understand why he has gone. He did extremely well here, a really good professional but there are a couple of other options, maybe warmer climates are more attractive.
"Plamen Krachunov is here for another couple of days, which he was originally booked in for."
Saturday's 2-1 win over Motherwell at McDiarmid Park was Saints' first three points since December 5 which took them into fifth place and Wright is looking for his side to go on a run.
The Northern Irishman said: "It was nice to get the win.
"It got us back into the top-six and now this is one of the games in hand that we have got so we have to try to make the most of it and pick up more points.
"We are not taking anything for granted, it is one win and we have to try to build on it."
Source: PAR
