Defender Nikola Katic isn’t happy with artificial pitches at the elite level of football and has warned of the danger of injury ahead of Rangers’ clash with Livingston on Sunday.
Gers supporters will of course remember that they lost Jamie Murphy for the season the last time Steven Gerrard’s side played on an artificial surface, just last month.
Back on plastic tomorrow away to Livingston tomorrow, Katic has spoken out against the use of non-grass pitches.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, the Croatian defender said:
It is difficult. These pitches are very dangerous for players.
You have seen it often enough, players can get injuries on these surfaces. We had it at Kilmarnock. It’s hard to put out of your mind what happened to Jamie. It’s difficult mentally because he’s our team-mate and it can happen to any one of us.
I’ve played on a few poor ones over the years and in my opinion they are bad for players. It’s dangerous for all players but especially the taller ones.
I’m 1.94m (6ft 4in) and I always feel pain in my back after playing on a plastic pitch.
If these surfaces are ever to be banned in Scottish football then it’s important players speak out when given the opportunity and Katic couldn’t be clearer when it comes to his thoughts on this issue.
That he feels back pain every time he plays on the surface is certainly not ideal and we can only hope there are no injuries tomorrow in the lunchtime kick-off.
Getting three points is obviously the priority but it’s clear that Rangers are running another kind of gauntlet throughout the 90 minutes.
Should artificial surfaces be banned in Scottish football? Have your say in the comments below…