St Johnstone could be forced to surrender their new training base to Perth and Kinross Council at a knock-down price after losing a crucial legal case.
The club initially appealed to Scottish ministers after the local authority attempted to buy pitches using compulsory purchase powers as it seeks to improve the local roads network.
A public inquiry was abandoned but the Saints subsequently mounted a new appeal to the Scottish Government to determine the legal status of the training grounds next to McDiarmid Park.
Saints argued it is vital to the club’s future, while the council’s planning permission claimed the pitch was being used “unlawfully”.
At the heart of that battle is the value placed on the land by the two parties.
Planning permission for the training development was granted in 1997, but the council claims that permission expired in 2002, while the site has only been used as a training ground for the last “five or six years”.
St Johnstone claimed that it had begun work ahead of the lapse of that planning permission, but that has now been dismissed by ministers.
That decision will strengthen the hand of the council which still requires the land for its road infrastructure plans at the negotiating table.
It is understood that the Scottish Government’s decision will have the effect of reducing the value of the land, which may effectively be considered waste ground despite the club’s investment in synthetic and grass pitches.
They have enabled the club’s players to resume training at the ground.
The Scottish Government reporter said St Johnstone had failed to provide sufficient proof and said the council’s reasons for refusing the club a lawful development certificate were “well-founded”.
He said: “On the basis of the evidence lodged by the parties and my site observations, I cannot be satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the change of use of the appeal site from agricultural land to training pitches, construction of training pitches, formation of car parking area and vehicular exit is lawful.”
No one from St Johnstone was available for comment.