Dundee have completely denied all responsibility over their Dens Park debacle, blaming Sky Sports for the postponement.
Managing Director John Nelms, in the best case of ‘blame everyone else’ that we’ve seen for some time, made a claim that despite the groundsmen’s best efforts, Dundee ran out of time:
“We were supposed to get 6mm of rain overnight and we got 12. The groundsmen have been out here since 05:00 and we just ran out of time. If we had a three o’clock match, the pitch would probably be playable.”
In short, Nelms blames Sky Sports for scheduling the match as a 12:00 match for live coverage and the refs for not delaying the KO till 3.
He went on, digging his heels in even further:
“We are supposed to be one of the most robust leagues in the world. The ball is rolling. We have had guys out here since 5am. We have done everything we could do to get this pitch in place. We have two small spots where the ball is not bouncing as we speak. The rest of the pitch is fine.”
Where to begin with this?
First of all, no one is blaming Dundee for Mother Nature giving 12mm of rain and not 6, but the club’s ridiculous lack of foresight and courtesy to not give Rangers any kind of heads up at 5AM when the rain was tumbling down was incredibly poor.
It is their job to communicate with the opposition to keep them abreast of the latest, even if that means a 5AM text to warn that this match might be in a spot of bother.
Dundee further claimed they did ‘all that they could’, but sadly that appears to exclude keeping Rangers informed.
From our research, Dundee have done this with several clubs this season, not just Rangers, failing miserably to get in touch with opponents regarding a match that is under threat, and this reflects diabolically on them as an institution.
They’ve gotten away with their shocking disrespect because they hadn’t done it to either of the Old Firm, but having now done it to Rangers, the spotlight is now on them as a insular club (not the players or fans) who show no regard for decency and whose dire behaviour and lack of etiquette saw up to 2,000 (if not more) Rangers fans travel to their city and immediately have to head back.
Rather than offering any kind of apology, instead Nelms blames Sky Sports, the referees, and pitches mockery bravado over how ‘tough’ the Scottish Premiership is supposed to be.
Rangers manager Philippe Clement even had to be informed by the kitman late in the morning of this shambles:
“Our kit man had to discover there was a problem because he arrived early. That’s already a strange situation.”
Dundee are very much on our ‘dislike’ list now, they’re a rotten little club with a real piece of work as their Managing Director.
Sooner they’re relegated the better.