Dunfermline Athletic explain amended friendly and cup schedule as work continues to lay new pitch
Dunfermline have revealed they requested an amended Premier Sports Cup fixture list next season due to work laying a new pitch this summer.
The Pars are confident the surface will be in 'optimal condition' in time for the kick-off to the new Championship campaign in early August.
With the SPFL granting their application for away ties in the early League Cup dates next month, the Fifers will have leeway to ensure everything is ready.
It is understood the works were expected to last seven months from start to finish, and the extra time fits perfectly into that schedule.
All pre-season friendlies have been deliberately arranged away from home to give the surface more time.
Dunfermline then open their cup campaign away to Hearts on July 12 before travelling to face Dumbarton a week later.
Their first home game is against Hamilton Accies on July 22 before they host Stirling Albion four days later.
Chairman and chief executive David Cook said: 'You can now start to see the fresh shoots of grass in the newly-prepared surface.
'And I'd like to thank [owners] Park Bench, the Greentech team and, of course, our groundsman Willie Davis for the work that has been carried out, and continues to be done to prepare the pitch ahead of the new season.
'This pre-season, all our friendly matches will be taking place away from home.
'Similarly, we also requested our away matches in the earlier fixtures in the Premier Sports Cup group stages to allow the pitch to be in an optimal condition ahead of the league campaign.'
Dunfermline consulted with experts Greentech Sportsturf after major issues with the East End Park pitch towards the end of last season.
Neil Lennon confessed it affected the style of play he wanted to implement after arriving as manager in March, and it also hampered the passing philosophy of predecessor Michael Tidser.
The pitch was stripped back and replaced with a mix of sand, soil and polypropylene fibres to help enhance durability, strength and drainage.
A new irrigation system, with pop-up sprinklers that can be operated remotely via a phone app, was also incorporated before the grass seed was sown.
'We know the last few years have been difficult from a pitch maintenance point of view,' commented groundsman Willie Davis. 'But the level of investment has been fantastic.
'I can already see a huge change in it, and it will make a massive difference during the second half of the season.
'The weather over the last few days has been good for growth – plenty of rain followed by sunshine – so hopefully there's no stopping it now.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
8 minutes ago
- BBC News
Oxford defender Brown signs new deal
Oxford United defender Ciaron Brown has signed a new contract to stay at the Championship club. The 27-year-old first joined the U's on loan from Cardiff City in January 2022 before agreeing to stay permanently that summer. Oxford have said that Brown has "committed his long-term future" to the club but have not disclosed the length of his made 42 appearances for Gary Rowett's side last season, scoring four goals and registering three assists as the U's finished 17th in the won promotion from League One via the play-offs the previous season, with Brown playing an integral role."I want to keep improving and I can see the club is growing on and off the pitch," Northern Ireland international Brown told the club website., external"I think I can go to another level, I had a good year last season but there are new goals and I feel we can take a massive step forward."I love this club, the minute I walked in here I felt the backing from the fans and the people in the building."
Scotsman
22 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Hearts and Hibs fans told of new powers SFA can wield as Ian Maxwell aims to avoid ever deploying them
The Scottish FA have been granted new powers to punish clubs for supporter behaviour. Sign up to our Hibs football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Hearts, Hibs and Scottish football fans been warned they could face severe punishment next season after the Scottish FA announced a crackdown on fan behaviour. The governing body held their annual meeting on Thursday and one of the key matters on the agenda was a vote on increasing the FA's powers in their response to the use of pyrotechnics at games. Clubs could now be punished with fines and ticket allocation restrictions or even face expulsion from one of the national cup competitions should their supporters use flares to disrupt games. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad UEFA have utilised similar punishments in recent seasons and even went as far as closing sections of stadiums of offending clubs or forcing games to be played behind closed doors. Closer to home, Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell were all charged by the SPFL after flares were used at the League Cup semi-final and saw their allocation for the final reduced by around 500 tickets. SFA new fan powers However, Maxwell has admitted the Scottish FA are hopeful they will not have to impose any such sanctions on clubs and hopes the new punishments will act as a deterrent. He told BBC Scotland: "You would absolutely never want to get to that stage and we need to look at the steps that we can take to avoid that. It's been documented in Uefa sanctions that the threat of ticket reductions has an impact - and the SPFL have used that after the League Cup semi-finals - so maybe that's something that we need to consider. The changes we have made to our rules will mean we can now work more with the SPFL to help eradicate that.' Why SFA have opted against UEFA approach Maxwell stressed focusing on the individual's behaviour by considering sanctions such as reduced ticket allocations or expulsion from cup competitions can 'create that consequence for the behaviour' as the Scottish FA opt for a targeted response rather than utilising UEFA's approach of placing fines on clubs in recent seasons. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "Uefa have had strict liability for a long time, which has involved fining clubs, but there's no consequence to the individual on that. It's the club that gets fined, so the supporter doesn't link that back to his or her behaviour. So it's about creating that jeopardy and creating that consequence for the behaviour that we're trying to remove. We've got hundreds of thousands of people that come and watch our games on a weekend and we need to make sure that environment is energetic and is noisy. We don't want to quell that, but fundamentally it has to be safe." Your next football read: Hearts, Celtic and other SPFL teams braced as Scotland's Lowland League votes in favour of reconstruction
The National
30 minutes ago
- The National
Neil Gray under fire over 'using ministerial car to visit the pub'
Gray has previously faced heavy criticism for having been chauffeured in a ministerial car to attend major Aberdeen cup matches at Hampden Park. The Health Secretary was gifted VIP seats on three occasions to watch the Dons play Hibernian, Rangers and Celtic in the League Cup and Scottish Cup. The Scottish Government said he was attending the games as a guest of the Scottish Football Association to discuss 'essential' business which related to his ministerial brief. Gray, who is an Aberdeen fan, declared the football trips as official business as they occurred across his time wellbeing economy, fair work and energy secretary. READ MORE: Russell Findlay objects to BBC question on Kemi Badenoch's popularity in Scotland However, The Daily Mail has now reported that Gray also used the taxpayer-funded car to travel to the Brig O'Don pub in Aberdeen before heading to the city's Pittodrie Stadium in May 2024. The trip was logged as a visit to a 'personal address, Aberdeen', despite Gray not having a personal address in the city. A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'This is an administration error. Mr Gray travelled from government business to a restaurant for a personal engagement before returning to government business.' They further said the trip was 'in line with the rules around Government Car Service GCS use'. The Scottish Tories and Scottish Labour said Gray had questions to answer. Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said 'The decision to take a taxpayer-funded car to the pub is questionable enough – but the fact it was hidden from the public reeks of a cover-up. 'Neil Gray must come clean about exactly what happened here and explain why exactly this trip to the pub was legitimate government business.' And Scots Tory depute leader Rachael Hamilton said: '[Gray] needs to explain why he and his team originally claimed that his ministerial limo took him to a home address rather than to a restaurant for socialising. 'Given the scandal the misuse of his government car caused, the Health Secretary ought to have double checked every journey to make sure that his account was factually correct, so this inaccuracy is hard to fathom.' In January, Gray apologised for what he called an "inadvertent error" in his statements to parliament about the documentation of meetings at football matches he attended. The SNP minister was accused of potentially misleading the Scottish Parliament by saying that minutes were taken at all the meetings in football stadiums. Following a Freedom of Information request, the Sunday Post newspaper was told by the government there was no note produced of the meeting at the 2023 League Cup Final at Hampden Park, where Rangers defeated Aberdeen. In November, Gray said it is legitimate for ministers to attend sporting events and he will continue to do so.
