Celtic have welcomed the decision to move their Scottish Premier League clash against Gretna on Sunday to Almondvale.The SPL announced after a day of talks on Monday that Sunday's game would be played at Livingston amid the continuing problems at Gretna's temporary home, Fir Park.

Celtic had issued a terse statement expressing disappointment after their rearranged league clash with Motherwell was called off on Saturday morning.

So they were pleased the uncertainty was over for their fans ahead of this weekend.

A Celtic spokesman said: "While we obviously sympathise with our own supporters over the upheaval they've suffered with fixtures this season, we welcome the SPL's early decision this week on a venue for our match with Gretna."

Their away game against Motherwell has yet to be rescheduled following Saturday's postponement - the eighth at Fir Park inside two months amid drainage problems and persistently heavy rain.

Motherwell are awaiting reports from pitch specialists who studied the surface and took soil samples on Monday.

Mark McGhee's side have Hibernian to play at home on March 29 and the venue remains unclear as Motherwell explore their options.

Chairman John Boyle raised the prospect of moving their home games away from Fir Park following Saturday's latest blow.

Gretna will also play at Livingston on April 5 against Inverness while the SPL will allocate their home clash with St Mirren, which also fell foul of the waterlogged pitch, in the coming days.

Administration-hit Gretna are confident they will survive until this weekend's game despite uncertainty over the future of their players.

The likes of Chris Innes, Paul Murray and Greg Fleming did not play in Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Aberdeen as they did not want to jeopardise moves to interested clubs.

The club's players are free to leave after their contracts were breached by non-payment of wages but doubts about their ability to move on are causing problems.

A Gretna spokesman said: "Next week's game is not in question and it will go ahead, that's the impression we have got from the administrators.

"As it stands, it will be the same team that played against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday.

"But if other clubs come in for some of our players then there might be a few more losses.

"The players that did not play at Aberdeen were the players who had clubs interested in them.

"But there are complications about signing for other teams in terms of being released and signing contracts and we are waiting on FIFA to get back to us with a ruling."

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