St Johnstone Football Club is facing a fresh legal battle with Perth and Kinross Council.
Saints bosses have appealed to Scottish ministers after the local authority accused the club of using a “crucial” training pitch unlawfully.
The facility was at the centre of a major row that threatened to topple the council’s £100 million-plus plans for a relief road to unlock development land on the edge of the city.
A bitter dispute over the council’s attempt to buy the pitch using compulsory purchase powers was due to be thrashed out at a public inquiry this month. St Johnstone had argued the pitch is crucial to the club’s future.
However, the talks collapsed after St Johnstone agreed to withdraw its objection at the 11th hour. Now, the club has mounted a new appeal to the Scottish Government, asking it to determine the legal status of the training pitch.
Saints were this year sent a strongly-worded letter from the council’s planning division, claiming the pitch was being used unlawfully.
Roads infrastructure manager Jillian Ferguson said planning permission for the facility, granted in 1997, expired in 2002. She claimed the site had only been used as training ground in the last five or six years.
In a letter to the Government’s appeals division, club chairman Steve Brown argues that work had started on the ground before the original planning permission was due to expire.
He also argued that the council could not say when the training pitch opened. “The truth of the matter is that the turf from the main stadium was lifted with several issues of topsoil in May 2005 then recycled and seeded as a surface for the training pitch the same month. Training activities commenced under the new manager later that summer.”
Mr Brown added that the outcome of the appeal may affect the compensation to be paid for land affected by the so-called Crematorium road proposal.
The Scottish Government’s Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals is expected to deliver its findings in February.
A council spokeswoman said: “We await the decision regarding the appeal.”