Finally, someone has the cajones to call out the dreadful standards of Scottish playing surfaces after Rangers manager Michael Beale labelled a host of northern pitches as cow fields. Given this is the Scottish Premiership which has consented to artificial surfaces for years, Beale is taking a leaf out of his old boss Steven Gerrard’s book by calling out the pitches which frankly are well below the needed standard for a credible European league.
Not only were we at Killie and their absolutely horrendous plastic pitch, but then the shocking Hampden surface robbed us of Kemar Roofe as well, before an utter bog at McDiarmid Park which was more like a swamp than a professional surface.
We get it, some of these clubs lacks funds – well, that’s their problem, not ours – they are the ones in the top flight of our country, and they’ve sadly offered little evidence of that privilege, by either letting their pitch rot to hell, or by replacing it with a nasty fake one.
But the one we cannot abide is Hampden – Rangers ended up on an absolute pit, the condition of the Mount Florida surface utterly horrific, and it had already been poor for the previous day’s semi-final as well.
No, Beale’s comments are right:
“What I think is we don’t need three games in six days away from Ibrox on two cowfields, that’s what we don’t need.”
Ibrox Noise has been quick to criticise some of Beale’s vocal diatribes since becoming manager, but he’s bang on here, and the surfaces around much of Scotland are diabolical for a first-world top tier league.
Yes, it’s winter, and yes, it makes it tougher on surfaces, but modern professional football played on what looks like a school’s own football pitch is just deeply embarrassing and a damning indictment of where the standards seem to have gone these days.
But yes, once again Rangers lead the way in calling out Scottish football for the dungheap it mostly is, a football county that tolerates nasty fake pitches and surfaces that are more like bogs than proper pitches.
Modern Scotland everyone.
It wouldn’t be tolerated in England for one minute . The so called SPFL clubs need to be fined and driven out of business if they don’t reach the standards no ifs no buts . Its typical of our green leaning snpland who don’t care for football really about the same way they seem he’ll bent on not encouraging or investing in young footballers or facilities . That why we don’t compete in any major tournaments any more . Its a disgrace
Nothing to do with the Scottish Government. Players wages stop any improvement to some clubs pitches.
Aye right..when did that shower invest any money in our game Andrew . Answer never .
Agree with you except on one point, Scotland not the the UK could ever be considered 1st world it’s positively 3rd world and anyone that has travelled to the so called 3rd world know that it’s now far ahead of the UK
Well aware of that Ray, we were being generous in labelling Scotland as first world. We’re backwater aside the Old Firm.
3 days late…
The bottom line is funding. Aside from our separated brethren, all of our other opponents struggle to make ends meet. It’s not ideal, but just the way it is.
Hampden’s playing surface, though, for a national stadium is an absolute disgrace.
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