At the tail end of last year, a number of grants were announced for Scottish League clubs to allow for a series of essential ground improvements. Dumbarton of Division Two were awarded £600,000 to go towards the building of a new stadium in the town that will replace crumbling old Boghead Park. There have long been rumours that longsuffering Clydebank were going to come in on the deal, but at this stage that would seem unlikely.

Hibernian have been given half a million pounds to remove timber in the West Stand at Easter Road while Kilmarnock have managed to secure £7,500 to implement a CCTV set-up.         

Ross County meanwhile netted £65,000 to go towards redeveloping their home for Division One football next season; a new stand is to be constructed at Victoria Park. Livingston hoped to be in the running for a place in the Scottish Premier League next season when they were given £100,000 to complete their Almondvale Stadium, but it looks certain that they'll be fighting it out with Falkirk for top spot in Division One instead. They have however used the money to fill in the corners at the ground. 

Finally St Mirren, who are SPL-bound, received a welcome boost to their title charge with the news that they would be given £300,000 to build a stand on the East End Terrace at Love Street. The Buddies will be a breath of fresh air to the top division in Scotland and St Mirren Park is certain to be unrecognisable from the one that accompanied the Paisley side back into the First Division in 1992.

Dunfermline Athletic carried out all of their rebuilding work two years ago and as a result suffered financially. I feel this is an important point to raise when discussing Falkirk, the side denied the possibility of promotion into the SPL because of the state of Brockville. The SPL had set a March 31st deadline for any work to be completed by, and in the two weeks leading up to this date, the Bairns pulled out all the stops to find a passport into the top division. No sides are permitted to groundshare in the Premier League, a ridiculous decision taken last year when Dundee were refused permission to play any home games 'away' from Dens Park in case their rebuilding work was not completed in time.  Dundee were told in no uncertain terms that if Dens Park was not completed by the end of July, then they would be relegated (despite finishing in mid-table) and permission to play at nearby Tannadice was refused out of hand. SPL legislation also seems to dictate that a club must own the ground they play at (although apparently Motherwell lease Fir Park from Lanarkshire County Council, so whether this is the case or not your guess is as good as mine) so Falkirk's board dreamt up the most ironic ploy possible.          

Airdrieonians sold their Broomfield Park to a supermarket firm in 1993 and thereafter played at Clyde for a number of seasons. Eventually a new home was constructed, bizarrely named the Shyberry Excelsior Stadium, although the team that took residence there was left in a severe financial state because of the money lost by not having a home for all of those years. The club last year were threatened with legal action over the failure to restore public playing fields adjacent to the stadium and thereafter lurched from crisis to crisis. Liquidation and a series of boardroom rows followed although that paled into insignificance when a leading club official died of a heart attack, allegedly because of the strain of single-handedly running the anaemic, ailing Diamonds.  Former Tottenham, Aberdeen and Barcelona striker Steve Archibald then became linked with a take-over although this now appears to be a remote possibility as Archibald is reportedly being wooed by Dundee to become manager for 2000/01. So to summarise, Airdrie faced financial ruin by constructing a new ground fit for the SPL. Yet in mid-March 2000, Falkirk announced they planned to buy the Shyberry Excelsior from Airdrie and would then allow them to play there as tenants (thus saving the club from possible extinction) and therefore shortcut their way into the top division. The plan was then to sell the ground to Lanarkshire Council once Falkirk's new home was complete. However, the idea hit a technical snag, so Falkirk then decided at the eleventh hour to announce that they planned to set up residence at Murrayfield, home of the Scottish Rugby Union. The executive committee of the SPL convened, listened to Falkirk's proposals and promptly voted 10 to 0 against with no abstentions.

Reasons given by Aberdeen Chief Executive Gordon Bennett for voting against the Falkirk bid included the complete lack of concrete evidence that Murrayfield was suitable for football. A cynic might suggest that Dundee, Kilmarnock, Dundee United and especially Aberdeen were more than happy to feel the heat of the Christmas oven being turned down. It has to be said that for Falkirk
to be given special dispensation when the likes of Airdrie, who have invested money that they didn't actually have, face oblivion would have been a travesty of justice. What the whole episode highlights though is that turkeys will not vote for Christmas, while the SPL is set to continue to maintain an ostrich-like head in the sand stance on matters that no other league in the world insists upon such as duel ground ownership and sharing. Internazionale, AC Milan, 1860 Munich, Bayern Munich, Wimbledon and Crystal Palace - none of these sides would be permitted to play in the SPL under current rules were they actually located in Scotland. It's ludicrous, isn't it? 
Morton announced in April that Cappielow Park would be dramatically converted into a 10,000-seater stadium by the early part of next season. Planning permission has been obtained for two new stands, although supporters are still unhappy at the lack of evidence that work has begun and have been carrying out demonstrations against the club's owner Hugh Scott. Games recently have been attracting gates of around 600, a dramatic fall from what would be expected.               

Elgin City have begun the process of transforming Borough Briggs into a Scottish League ground. Concrete terracing is being erected at either end of the stadium, and this has caused problems because it will mean the removal of a section of concrete in one corner called the Pillbox that the locals want preserved. Peterhead are also adding concrete terracing to their stadium, as three sides are currently just flat expanses of grass.         

A consortium based in Huntly are at the time of writing trying to buy out struggling Clydebank with the intention of forming a new Division Two club called Huntly 2000 that would play at Huntly FC's Christie Park, but would not be the same team. Readers may remember the mention of improvements needed at Christie Park for league football from the last issue. It seems that if Huntly (or Huntly 2000) are to become a league club then this work (more seats, improved changing rooms, a hospitality suite and indoor training facilities) will have to be carried out over the next three months.  Meanwhile, a £10 million scheme to build a retail park on Clydebank’s former Kilbowie Park began in March.               

St Anthony's have finally revealed where they will be playing their Central League matches in the long-term. The Ants currently groundshare with Glasgow Perthshire at Keppoch Park in Possilpark (the other side of Glasgow) following the decision by the council to sell their Moore Park home for development, and for a while uncertainty faced the Govan side.  Ants, who played in green and white hoops before Celtic adopted them, will be building a ground at Cardonald Park, roughly a mile away from Moore Park.          

Strathspey Thistle of the Scotscoup North League are to move to a new stadium in Grantown-on-Spey in order to be eligible for Highland League entry at some point in the future. The new ground will be practically across the road from their current location and will feature a pavilion, floodlights and a superb playing surface.      

Linlithgow Rose of the John Walker League are in the process of building a 304 seat stand at their Prestonfield home. The project will cost around £100,000. Ardrossan Winton Rovers have revealed the plans for their new home, following the decision to sell Winton Park for development. The ground itself will be fairly basic, but it will have an adjacent all-weather playing surface and will be built on the outskirts of the town.              

Wick Academy may be considering the possibility of leaving Harmsworth Park for another site in the town. Rumoured venues would be the Riverside and South Road. Wick do not own their ground and it is used for other activities in the summer, so developing it would prove problematic, thus forcing a possible relocation.