Police and SPFL on alert for Hearts v Aberdeen as Storm Floris hits Scotland
Scottish Premiership opener at Tynecastle is being watched closely
Hearts’ opening Premiership match against Aberdeen is being closely monitored ahead of kick-off tonight as Storm Floris hits Scotland. Police and the Scottish Professional Football League are aware of travel issues with trains cancelled amid high winds and rain. However, as it stands, the match is set to go ahead at the scheduled time of 8pm.
Sky Sports will broadcast the game live and further weather updates will be assessed as the day goes on. Winds of up to 90 miles per hour are forecast in areas of Scotland and authorities may intervene to postpone the match should the situation in Edinburgh worsen, but so far they are happy to proceed as planned.
The 2025/26 Premiership kicked off on Saturday, with Hearts and Aberdeen held back until Monday for live television. Both clubs are aware of the situation and are continuing their pre-match preparations as normal. Fans are advised to travel with caution to Gorgie this evening, with Tynecastle sold out ahead of Derek McInnes’ league bow as Hearts head coach. The weather is certain to make free-flowing passing football difficult due to winds and heavy rain.
McInnes spoke at his pre-match press conference about the frustration of being the last team to start their league campaign. “It's been a long week. It's one of these unusual weeks when you have to wait to the Monday,” he admitted. “Players had Sunday, Monday off, just on the back of the schedule they've had. We've worked three pretty tough days, three proper working days. We had the bounce game [against Dundee] on Wednesday. It still feels Monday is a million miles away, though.
“Normally, you get to this point in the week and you're getting the juices flowing for the game, but they're making us wait for this game. I think it will be worth the wait. I do think the positives of the game being Monday allows us to maybe get one or two closer to playing through the injury side of it. and obviously it gives us a wee bit longer to get one or two players registered and signed as well [Kabore and Magnusson]. We are trying to take the benefits of that.
SPFL Scottish Premiership starts as Hearts take on Aberdeen at Tynecastle
“The game itself is everything you want from the first game of the season. A home game, live on Sky, sellout, up against a good team with good players. There will be a lot of good players on the pitch on Monday night. We just want to make sure we're as prepared as we can, which I think we are. We'd like to be more certain of who's available in terms of if we can get the people we want signed and in terms of one or two of the injuries, but that's not unusual on that side of it for a manager. Come Monday, we've just got to be ready to go.
“I think we look ready. We look fit, we look competitive, we look motivated. We look as if we've got good options. I think the pre-season, although it's never truly an indication, there have been plenty of goals, plenty of clean sheets and a nice feel-good factor. It's important that we try to keep this feeling as long as we can. Well aware there'll be a belt in the mouth around the corner, which we want to keep to a minimum this season. Hopefully we can just keep this feeling that we're all getting at the minute going. When the first game proper starts, as it will on Monday, just try and come out the other end of it with three points. Every manager this weekend will just try to get that first win as quickly as possible. We are no different.”