Postponement gives Airdrie time
The Scottish Football League today agreed to postpone crisis club Airdrie's weekend fixture with Ross County - but warned that time is fast running out for the Diamonds.
Administrators KPMG made the request in an attempt to buy time to find a solution to the club's well-publicised problems.
As a result the visit of Ross County to the Shyberry Excelsior Stadium has been shelved - but the SFL are keen to treat the move as a one-off.
SFL secretary Peter Donald said: "The application was considered, and it was agreed to postpone in order to help KPMG find a solution to the problem.
"But no provisions are in place for clubs that do not fulfil their fixtures. A club can only exist if it is playing its matches.
"This type of offer is not open-ended, and although no cut-off date has been set it clearly cannot go on for ever."
When Steve Archibald was stripped of his status as "preferred bidder" last week the way was opened for other interested parties to come forward.
KPMG have revealed they are talking to possible buyers, with one believed to be former Airdrie shirt sponsor John Dalziel who owns a bakery business.
KPMG's tearing up of the management agreement it had had with Archibald since the summer amid claims he did not have the finances to complete the deal effectively sacked him as the club's manager and also forced the postponement of the previous match.
That was the potentially lucrative Scottish Cup tie with Peterhead last Saturday, and the Third Division side went through to the quarter finals on a bye.
The contracts of all but six Airdrie players expired at midnight on Saturday, but Archibald has insisted he is still desperate to buy the club.
He told supporters so at a rally in the town over the weekend and has kept the displaced squad together despite being locked out of the stadium.
Archibald also made an attempt to tie up one of the many loose ends involved with the take-over deal, the work required to secure the deeds to the ground from North Lanarkshire Council.
KPMG, as the club's current custodians, own the stadium. But the council owns the land it stands on and has so far rented it out for free this season.
But for a buyer to secure the deeds money must be paid to pay for environmental improvements on land surrounding the stadium.
On Monday, Archibald pledged £880,000 to the council but soon discovered it could not be accepted.
A council spokesman said: "As soon as Steve Archibald fell out with KPMG he was working off his own back.
"We have a legally binding agreement with Airdrie FC, but Steve Archibald no longer represents Airdrie because of the fall-out with KPMG."
Airdrie's next scheduled fixture is away to Alloa on March 3.