St Johnstone’s Head of Football Operations Gus MacPherson got it all wrong when attempting to return the serve on Michael Beale regarding the poor McDiarmid Park pitch.
So wrong, that he effectively contradicted himself in the process of claiming that the Rangers manager’s comments were “unprofessional”.
Unfortunately, things need to be said, sometimes. It may not come across as friendly or polite but there is nothing wrong or unprofessional about a direct comment, especially if it is truthful and accurate.
After the Scottish Cup game in Perth last month, Beale quipped when asked about demands on his team:
“What I think is, what we don’t need is three games in six days, away from Ibrox, on two cow fields. That’s what we don’t need.”
As well as the drudgery of Hampden Park for the League Cup semi-finals last month, a bumpy, bare McDiarmid surface was also in the line of fire – rightly – which has been a bit too upfront for the liking of some at the Perth club.
MacPherson has responded regarding those comments:
“There was a lot of criticism from the Rangers side after the game here. Personally, I thought that was very unprofessional — and I did remark on that the following week when we played them at Ibrox.”
“It’s impossible to improve it at this time of the year. It’s a basic fact that there is no growth from about November to March.”
He continued, “the pitch is what it is. For a number of years, there hasn’t been a maintenance programme. The club hasn’t had the time to do it for a variety of reasons – European football and then the play-offs being two reasons.”
Excuses
It has been amusing to see previous comments from MacPherson slating the pitch at Hibs, when he was in charge of St Mirren.
Yes, the weather is harsh, wet and cold in Scotland through a large chunk of the season but what are you doing to mitigate that? Yes, it comes down to finance, mostly. Rangers and Celtic are obviously at an advantage over most on that regard but a couple of years ago, the Ibrox pitch was in an unacceptable state so the problem was addressed. Motherwell, on a much closer budget to St Johnstone remedied their issue after years of a sand pit. Even wee Darvel, below the SPFL, are able to have a pitch to play proper football on, whilst others opt for plastic.
Further artificial surfaces in Scotland are not the answer, it is about prioritising and addressing a key issue…as long as the money is there to do it properly.
The rest is all excuses and yes, sometimes the truth hurts.