Hampden Park officials last night confirmed they have the finances in place to resurface the national stadium pitch in time for the Co-Operative Insurance Cup final in March and Scotland's World Cup qualifier against Iceland in April.
Replacing the turf would cost approximately £120,000 and take four days to complete, but David Kells , the Hampden Park Ltd stadium director has reassured players and critics the pitch will be in perfect condition for both dates.
Steven Pressley, the Falkirk defender and Scotland assistant coach, had described the pitch as "appalling" after his side lost 3-0 to Rangers at Hampden Park on Tuesday night.
Just 24 hours later, the Celtic manager Gordon Strachan admitted his team selection for their semi-final 11-10 penalty shoot-out victory against Dundee United had been determined by the state of the grass and a number of players in both semi-finals expressed concerns that they could have been seriously injured during their respective matches.
Rangers meet Celtic in the Co-operative Cup final on March 15 with George Burley's Scotland facing a vital World Cup qualifier at home to Iceland on April 1.
Hampden officials had a team of experts examining the pitch yesterday morning and will continue to monitor its condition before deciding whether it needs relayed.
Kells said: "The weather conditions have been cold and the temperatures have not helped, but I can reassure everyone that it will be perfectly fine for the League Cup final and also for the Scotland game.
"We budget every year for a pitch replacement. The money is there. It will be weather dependent but we are coming into a period at the beginning of March where there will be more sun on the pitch.
"The semi-final between Celtic and Dundee United was terrific despite the pitch, even though the penalty spot took a bit of a hammering . . ."
The pitch was last replaced in 2004 before the Scottish Cup final. With residents Queen's Park also playing on the surface before the two glamour dates, Kells admits the pitch will be closely monitored to ensure it matches the occasion.
He added: "The situation is that that we have a Queen's Park game this Saturday and then they could have three more games before the final. Staff have been working on the pitch all morning and will be continuing to do so right through.
"A programme is in place for the pitch to recover. In the event of that not being sufficient then we will have to look at returfing the pitch, but that is only a four-day process.
"We have had five games in only 14 days on the pitch, which is unusual for January.
"This is also the first time in years that we have had back-to-back semi-finals on the pitch, as last year one of the games was taken to Tynecastle."
The Scottish Football Association rents the stadium from Hampden Park Ltd.
An SFA spokesman last night believed the problems would be resolved before the Iceland game, saying: "We are confident that Hampden will take all the steps required to ensure the pitch is in the best possible condition for the World Cup qualifiers."
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