Hearts friendlies on hold until mid-September due to coronavirus rules

Covid testing makes playing games difficult

Hearts are keen to arrange pre-season friendlies for their squad.

Hearts’ plans for pre-season friendlies against Scottish clubs are on hold until September 14 as they can only play opponents who are conducting biweekly coronavirus tests.

Teams outwith the Scottish Premiership are not required to test players if they are only training, but to play matches before the middle of next month they must be testing twice a week.

That costs around £4000 to £5000 depending on squad numbers so most lower-league clubs won’t take part in friendlies until after September 14 – the date the Scottish Government intend to permit games without testing.

Premiership teams are operating in biosecure bubbles with two checks each week as they are involved in competitive action, however this does not apply to the other 30 sides.

Hearts are testing their players twice each week but others in the lower divisions are not doing likewise as yet. The Championship, League One and League Two are not scheduled to begin until October 17.

Another option for Hearts could be arranging fixtures against English clubs. Manager Robbie Neilson is looking at all possibilities ahead of his team’s season starting in the Betfred Cup early in October.

“It's been difficult to get games organised to be honest. The lower-league teams can't play until at least September 14. We are looking at teams down south and possibly any teams coming up here to train,” Neilson told the Evening News.

“We might need to wait until September 14 until teams don't need to test. At the moment, we can only play against teams which are doing full testing like us. I don't think anybody else is yet because it's an expensive process.

“We have a few games lined up for after September 14 but that's assuming the Government lets clubs move onto the next phase. We will just play bounce games between ourselves for now. That's all we can do at the moment.”

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