Celtic assessing storm damage to their stadium as clash with Dundee in doubt

Celtic are assessing the storm damage to their stadium as Saturday afternoon’s William Hill Premiership match against Dundee is in doubt.

Storm Eowyn brought winds of up to 100mph in central Scotland on Friday and a Met Office red weather warning of danger to life.

A decision will be taken on the Dundee encounter on the morning of the game once conditions are assessed.

A statement from Celtic on Friday read: “Unfortunately today’s severe weather conditions have caused some damage at Celtic Park.

“Our stadium and safety staff are currently unable to fully assess the extent of the damage due to the ongoing extreme conditions.

“In light of this and in order that we communicate fully and openly with our fans, in the interests of supporter safety, we are unable to confirm at this stage whether the match between Celtic and Dundee will be able to proceed. Of course, we will be doing all we can to ensure that it does.

“A full assessment and decision will be made as early as possible tomorrow morning (Saturday) and we will update our supporters as soon as we can.

“We thank our supporters sincerely for their understanding.”

There will be a pitch inspection on Saturday morning at Ross County ahead of their Premiership game against Hibernian while the League One encounter between Arbroath and Kelty Hearts is off following storm damage at Gayfield.

The Angus club announced there had been “considerable damage to the Main Stand roof” at the ground on the North Sea coast.

Footage has also emerged of serious damage to Cappielow. A large section of the roof of the Cowshed covered terrace has been torn off. Morton are away to Queen’s Park on Saturday.

Morton general manager Dale Pryde-MacDonald said: “Today’s storm has caused significant damage at the stadium and also to our local community.

“Due to the conditions still being challenging a full and accurate assessment of the damage will be conducted in the coming days. I have been in dialogue with our insurers across the day and we will work closely with them to ensure that we can manage the fall out from today’s storm.

“We understand supporters will be concerned by the severity of the images they have seen in relation to the Cowshed stand, and we will continue to provide updates as and when they are available in relation to the issues that have been/will be identified over the coming days.”

In rugby union, Glasgow’s BKT United Rugby Championship encounter with Connacht was put back to Sunday from Friday night in a decision taken earlier in the week following the forecasts.

Football fans face travel disruption on Saturday. All train transport was cancelled on Friday and travellers have been warned not to expect a resumption of services before noon on Saturday at the earliest.