The Dundee controversy isn’t quite overshadowing tomorrow’s titanic Old Firm, but it’s certainly adding a slight complication for Rangers as we focus on Celtic.

With Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell not mincing his words, the Fir Park boss had this to say:

“When you invest that money, it comes out of my player budget. Clubs can pay more for specific players. That can come about because you don’t invest money in your infrastructure or pitch. We can see that that’s the case here. I feel sorry for the fans, for our supporters travelling here today. There’ll be less Motherwell fans here [sic], in light of the pitch inspections. We know how difficult it is in the economic climate to waste money on travelling.”

What’s he getting at?

Dundee sit 6th in the table, Motherwell 5 points behind in 8th.

Dundee have, deliberately, and systematically neglected the fundamentals of fixing their pitch in order to put more budget in players – both the development and signing and particularly, the wages.

Dundee look a solid bet to make the top 6 at this point, and many are starting to argue there’s a speck of malevolence involved here.

That a top flight team let their pitch go to disarray, deliberately hijacking visiting sides, in order to sign better players and get better results.

Dundee have lost just four matches at Dens Park all season, to Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and Hibs. That’s a lot of points that Motherwell, with the money they put into their pitch, didn’t earn. Motherwell put £1.7M into fixing their pitch two seasons ago, Dundee just left theirs.

And now with their better players that they can afford, rather than focusing on their torrentially-bad pitch, arguably on purpose, they have gained an unsporting advantage.

Is there an actionable crime here?

Hard to say.

But it’s miles below acceptable.