Hamilton say New Douglas Park not available for East Kilbride - Celtic clash

The row over where East Kilbride will host their William Hill Scottish Cup clash with Celtic has taken a new turn after Hamilton announced New Douglas Park is unavailable to stage the tie.

The Scottish Football Association confirmed last week that the fifth-round match-up between the Lowland League outfit and Ronny Deila's Premiership champions would be staged at Accies' home ground.

But that left East Kilbride unhappy after it was revealed Hamilton was their seventh-choice venue for the David v Goliath fixture on Sunday, February 7.

SFA rules dictate that if a club cannot stage a cup tie on the grounds of police advice or public safety, it should then be staged at the nearest registered stadium.

New Douglas Park, which seats around 6,000 fans, is seven miles from K-Park and closer than any other senior ground.

But now the matter has been thrown up in the air once more after Accies insisted their stadium is fully booked on February 7.

In a statement, the Premiership outfit said: "It has recently been reported that we will be hosting the William Hill Scottish Cup 5th round fixture between East Kilbride and Celtic on Sunday 7th February.

"We have a full programme of Academy, Youth and Community events already planned for that weekend and have no intention of altering our club programme and as a result will not be in a position to make New Douglas Park available to stage the tie."

East Kilbride, who overcame Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale last Wednesday to set their Hoops clash, had earlier informed Hampden chiefs their preference was to stage the game at their K-Park home.

If the 600-capacity ground was ruled out, they listed Hampden, Celtic Park, Broadwood, the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie and Partick Thistle's Firhill ahead of New Douglas Park.

However, the SFA ruled it should go ahead at Hamilton after consulting Scottish Cup Rule 13, which states that ties will be played at the "nearest registered ground of at least equivalent capacity which in the opinion of the (SFA) board is most suitable for the occasion" if a home team's stadium cannot be used.