It won’t come as a surprise to most Rangers fans, but Slavia Prague have made noises on their concern for the state of the Ibrox pitch.
Over the harsh months of January and February, the pitch took a battering but thankfully there have been signs of improvement since the St Mirren game with the gradual increase in temperature helping the situation.
In a press report today, Slavia assistant manager Zdenek Houstecky commented on the condition of the Ibrox turf:
“We saw from the video analysis that it doesn’t look very good.”
“That could be to our advantage though because we’ve played a lot of matches on bad terrain.”
“A few weeks ago it was really not in good condition but in their last league match against St Mirren it already looked better.”
“We’ll see when we get there.”
Houstecky could be planning another pitch party if his team are victorious tomorrow – similar scenes at Leicester brought West Ham’s former Slavia star, Tomas Soucek to the heart of the team’s celebrations.
In an image posted yesterday on Twitter, the shoots of growth were visible as well as the protection applied to the goal mouths.
Looking lovely in the sunshine today. pic.twitter.com/fhzQWUOpw3
— Lennox (@A_lennox85) March 16, 2021
No significant rain has been forecast for tomorrow which reduces the potential for the pitch to cut up.
With the game on a massive stage, broadcast across Europe, Rangers and especially Steven Gerrard will be cognisant of the overall situation around the pitch and the impact on the image of the club.
The priority for Gerrard will be the surface that his team plays on and he will simply want the best pitch possible.
Further work appears very likely in the close season.