If there is one major silver lining to come from the postponement of Rangers vs Celtic today, it’s the fact that the Ibrox pitch will finally have time to grow some grass.
Celtic were of course set to take to Govan in just a couple of hours in a bid to extend our 13-point lead at the top of the Premiership. However, the SPFL and SFA released a joint statement on Friday postponing the season indefinitely due to the global health pandemic.
The vast majority of people would surely acknowledge that it was the correct decision to do so. The SPFL/SFA were also simply following the likes of England, France, Spain, Italy, and the USA in closing down their football for the time being.
As of yet, there is no solution evident with regard to how we finalise the season. It’s all going to depend on how the virus spreads and the steps the UK and Scottish governments take in combatting it.
But one of the positives about the game being postponed is that it will give the ghastly-looking Ibrox turf some time to become smoother.
Pitch wasn’t looking great on Thursday
Despite not playing on it for two weeks, Rangers hosted Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday night in the Europa League. Even despite not having played on it for a fortnight, there were still plenty of visible patches where grass was non-existent.
The heavy rainfall in Glasgow hasn’t helped the pitch in Govan. However, even then it looked an absolute mess by the time Leverkusen walked off the pitch with their 3-1 win.
The prospect of playing on it less than 72 hours after that Europa game finalised was always a concern. It perhaps wouldn’t have been a leveler, but given Celtic’s possession-based game, it could’ve been detrimental to how we moved the ball around.
There is no guarantee as of yet that the game will even be played of course. However, if it does, Rangers will have had plenty of time to sort their pitch out.
There is the obvious argument to say that Leverkusen showed good football can be played on it regardless. Whilst that’s true, it still doesn’t make it ideal. Getting Ibrox in tip-top condition and conducive to good football would take away a key frustration that some supporters had ahead of the derby.
Who knows when it will be played? But at the very least, we know it won’t be for a while. Hopefully, then, Celtic’s chances of playing on what at times looked like a potato field will be minimised.
Is this one of the key positives to come out of today’s derby postponement? Would the pitch have made much of a difference in your eyes? Let us know in the discussion forum below.
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