Well come clean on USH

Fir Park
By grabar
February 12 2009

Motherwell FC have finally been forced to come clean on their malfunctioning Under Soil heating system after picking up a £20k fine from the SPL.

The club attended a hearing at the SPL this afternoon after the game with Hearts back on 6^th December was postponed due to a frozen pitch. Since then there has been much rumour and speculation about whether we had working USH at all, with Mark McGhee letting it slip during On the Ball that the pipes were damaged when trying to repair the drainage in the summer. There has been a stoney silence from the club all season, but they have been force to release a statement from General Manager Leeann Dempster, thanks to being fined £20k by the SPL, the statement says, “We are satisfied that the hearing we received today was fair and the outcome was reflective of the situation we have found ourselves in. “I know many fans have been frustrated by the lack of comment and information coming from the Club on this matter but we have been unable to comment in any way until the hearing had concluded.   “The honest fact of the matter is that a section of the under-soil heating pipes under the pitch have failed.  We confirmed this to the SPL the week that the technical report was completed.  We have given our strict assurance to the board that a repair plan is already in place and that these will be concluded during the summer and in time for the start of the 2009/2010 season.    “Given the circumstances and in the face of some of the lowest temperatures experienced in recent years, the club and everyone involved with MFC have worked tirelessly, week in week out, to get our home matches on and I want to thank everyone again for doing so.” I think the club has been lucky not to have been hammered more by the SPL, particularly given our record of postponements last season. I am sure we can all breathe a sigh of relief and hope we have no more postponements this season. We also need to hope they actually carry out the work they have committed to this summer rather than what looks like a half hearted effort ahead of this season.