The phrase ‘the floodgates have opened up at Windsor Park’ has never been more appropriate.
Linfield have revealed that the Big Two festive clash with Glentoran couldn’t have kicked off even if the pitch was playable.
That’s because burst pipes have caused significant damage at the international venue.
Both dressing rooms were flooded, ceilings collapsed, tiles were damaged and the toilets were also flooded.
The North Stand has also suffered leakages and a major clean up and repair job has swung into action.
It’s going to take a few days to clean up the mess but next Tuesday’s Linfield v Crusaders clash should get the green light.
Linfield secretary Ken Greer insisted there was no chance yesterday’s game could have gone ahead even if the pitch was playable.
“The chairman, Jim Kerr, had a look at the pitch and both goalmouths were rock solid so it was not playable,” said Greer. “But, ironically, burst pipes caused a lot of flooding and the dressing rooms were unusable.
“Part of the ceiling came down in the home dressing room and both were flooded. The water was stopped but then it started again and it’s going to take some time to repair the damage.
“Linfield are away to Donegal Celtic on Friday but our next home game is against Crusaders on Tuesday. The North Stand also sustained some damage and that will need to be checked out before away supporters can use it.”
Glentoran were critical of the decision to postpone the Big Two showdown last Thursday — four days before the scheduled kick-off time. However, Greer feels the frost was so severe there was no other option.
“These are frustrating times for the supporters but it was too big a risk to proceed with plans to play the game,” added Greer. “You have fans and stewards to consider and with such a big crowd expected to attend it was right to make an early decision.
“The club has insurance to cover the cost of the flood damage but we are now left with a lot of mopping up to do.
“We are dealing with unprecedented weather conditions and I have never seen anything on this scale before.
“But the goalmouths were so frozen solid that the pitch would not have been ok anyway.”
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