The Hampden Park pitch will be torn up and relaid if problems persist before the Co-operative Insurance Cup final in March and Scotland's vital World Cup qualifier against Iceland in April, Telegraph Sport can reveal.
The playing surface was condemned by both Rangers and Falkirk after their Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final on Tuesday night and on Wednesday Gordon Smith, the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, said that it was "a matter of luck" whether or not the turf could be brought to a suitable standard for the first domestic final of the season or the World Cup match.
"It's always a concern when the pitch isn't conducive to good football," said Smith. "In the short term there are one or two remedial things that can be done, but it's a matter of luck whether it could recover completely. We are definitely looking long term at what measure we can take to maintain the pitch at the highest standard possible and that will include examining our drainage systems."
It has been stated in a number of other media outlets that the pitch cannot be relaid until after the summer concert schedule which sees Take That appear for three consecutive nights and also features appearances by AC/DC and The Eagles. However, David Kells, Hampden's managing director, confirmed that emergency plans are in place to relay the surface if it does not recover sufficiently before the end of next month.
See Rest of article at source:-Telegraph.co.uk
