By John Baron
Farsley Celtic has announced that “ground killing’ work on the pitch area has been completed amid ongoing delays installing a new artificial pitch.
The Celts have played 32 consecutive games – including pre-season – away from The Citadel this season after work to install a new 4G pitch stalled during the summer.
A statement issued by the club said that work started on the “ground-killing” works to tackle growth following the lifting of the pitch and ‘they have now completed their work on site’.
The statement added: “The ground will be tested in the middle of next week (timing to be confirmed) at which point it will also be decided if another CBR survey will be required (which tests the soil strength and stiffness) given the unexpected length of time the earth has been exposed. Should this be required we have an engineering company lined up ready to go immediately.
“Once that assessment is completed the contractor will be able to provide us with an updated plan of work which we will of course share with you.
“The contractor has also agreed to work longer days (under the floodlights) and also to work over the festive period to try and get the job completed as quickly as possible, as we are all acutely aware of the impacts not playing at home is having on all involved.
“Once again we apologise for the delays in completing the pitch. We are fully aware of the impact and implications this is having on people’s lives and believe us when we say we share that pain and frustration with you. We can assure you that we have and will continue to do all we can to try and complete the job as quickly as possible while remaining fully committed to delivering this project.”
The statement added: “We have to put this short-term pain into the context of the longer term club’s future, and this investment is not only the biggest by far that this club has ever seen, but it also assures the long term future of our club and will be the foundation upon which we can grow and take that step to the next level.
“So please stick with us, please continue to support the first team, our women’s team, our deaf guys and all of our fantastic grassroots, development and academy teams who are as ever giving it all wearing our badge!”
No specific start date was given for work on laying the pitch.
Farsley Celtic Supporters Club have taken a vote of no confidence in chairman Paul Barthorpe and asked him to sell the club. They are also boycotting ‘home’ games at the club, which are currently being held 70 miles away in Buxton. Wednesday’s match against Chorley at Buxton was delayed by 30 minutes after the Farsley team bus was stuck in traffic.
Reacting to the announcement, supporter David Pearce said on social media: “Gushing post on the Farsley Celtic website today trumpeting the fact that after six months of inactivity on pitch works at the Citadel a man has come to kill the weeds! How incredible that it has taken so long to pay somebody to do such a simple job.”
Darren Bullough posted:”Great news it’s hopefully starting, so me for one will take the positive and hope all goes well and the pitch gets sorted. Understand the negative comments absolutely and things other than the pitch but hopefully it’s the start of getting this amazing club and fan base and community back together.”
The club was placed under a transfer embargo on Wednesday by the National League – the third time this year. The embargo was lifted today.
A club statement on social media added: “We were informed at 5pm last night out of the blue with no warning or conversation that the club was under embargo for a finance related issue. After a number of phone calls to the league, and other relevant bodies it was established that this was related to a small non-wages related payment to a former player back in January 2024. That we were not aware of any outstanding issue with.
“Once it was established what this was and the amount it was paid immediately and confirmed back to the league straight away.”
The Celts this evening unveiled the signing of 20-year-old left back Connor Ferguson from Leeds United on an initial one-month loan deal.