Hearts: August fixtures will not be played at Tynecastle

Hearts will be unable to play their August league home fixtures at Tynecastle. Picture: Ian Georgeson

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It was previously assumed the Gorgie Road side would begin the campaign with a run of away matches after an agreement was made with the SPFL.

Hearts insist they are unable to host games at their home ground due to the ongoing construction of the new main stand.

Subsequently, confusion swelled among the support when the 2017/18 Ladbrokes Premiership fixtures were announced, scheduling two Hearts home matches (against Kilmarnock and Motherwell) in the club’s opening four fixtures.

Hearts have clarified in a statement that the computer responsible for generating the fixtures couldn’t compute the request, but the league is still complying with the club’s need to play away from their home ground.

The Edinburgh side are now exploring different avenues to ensure the games can either be moved elsewhere or postponed.

The statement read: “The club previously agreed with the SPFL that no home games would be scheduled for Tynecastle prior to September 9th 2017. However the computer model used by the SPFL could not accommodate this scheduling.

“Therefore, although today’s published fixture list shows that Hearts are due home matches in rounds two and four, there is absolute clarity and agreement that this will not be possible and these games will not be played at Tynecastle.

“We have been assured by the SPFL that this is not an issue and our fellow Premiership clubs have all been very co-operative and sympathetic to our position. We are therefore urgently exploring the different options available to us with regards to rearranging these two fixtures and an announcement will be made shortly.”

Ian Cathro’s side begin the season with a trip to Celtic Park and will travel to Ibrox to face Rangers two weeks later.

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