Philippe Clement and Rangers have hit out after the team’s Scottish Premiership game at Dundee was postponed just 90 minutes before kick-off.
The 12pm kick-off at Dens Park was called off at around 10.30am after two separate pitch inspections were carried out. The postponement – Dundee’s third of the season, following home games against Aberdeen and St Johnstone – means that Celtic will hold on to their one-point lead over Rangers through the international break.
“We weren’t warned about it – not Saturday evening, [or] during the night,” said Clement. “I hear now that people started to work on the pitch at 5am. So, in that way they did their best. But we were only told there was an issue because our kit man was at the stadium early, at around 9.15am. He warned us about the situation and for me, that’s a really strange thing.”
“This will be the only pitch in all the leagues in Scotland where a game was postponed,” the Rangers manager added. “That tells me that it has nothing to do with the weather. Yes, it rained, but it rained all over Scotland and there were pitches in other lower leagues where they could play football.”
“There, the ball was bouncing. But here, the ball was not bouncing. So clearly there is something wrong,” he continued. “Also, there were spots on the pitch where they put lots of sand and there was no stability for the players. It is really dangerous for injuries.”
After heavy rain overnight, there was an initial 9.15am pitch inspection by local referee Craig Fordyce ahead of the scheduled noon kick-off and, following another inspection by the match referee Don Robertson at 10.15am, the game was called off.
Robertson explained he was left with no option but to postpone the fixture. “The only consideration for me was the safety of the players,” he said. “When I inspected the pitch there, it was quite clear that it wasn’t in a playable condition.
“The ball wasn’t bouncing, and there were a couple of areas of concern in front of the dugout and in the top penalty area,” he added. “The ground staff have done a lot of work to be fair to them, but the ball is not bouncing at all in some of those areas, it wasn’t rolling, the conditions underfoot were dangerous for the players.”
Groundstaff try to make the playing surface playable on Sunday morning. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
The Ibrox club also released an official statement which backed up their manager’s complaints. It read: “Rangers, on behalf of our supporters, are extremely disappointed and angered with the late call-off of today’s match with Dundee.”
“The first team have prepared as normal for the match, and it was not until this morning that any concerns over the playing surface were raised,” the statement added. “The Rangers team and thousands of our supporters had already arrived at the stadium by the time a decision was reached.”
“It is not understood why the home club did not raise concerns in a more timely manner, given the reoccurring issues they have had with their playing surface at earlier points in the season. Given [this match] was to be shown on Sky Sports nationwide, [it] reflects poorly on our game.”
The Dundee managing director, John Nelms, took a different view on Sky Sports News, saying: “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.”
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