Pitch Inspection 4:30pm Game Off

[Charles Bannerman]

I agree, a total joke and very insulting to any local officials of whatever grade.

What planet do these people actually live on?

I would have thought that someone local like Jimmy Johnstone or Bill Machray - vastly experienced ex referees who have gone on to become referee supervisors and who actually assess the kind of people the SPL seem to insist must carry out inspections - might have been perfectly capable of deciding whether a pitch is playable or not.

On the other hand Bill or Jimmy could have got to the TCS long before the match referee whose late arrival presumably maximised the chances of the game going ahead. I would have been a very interested fly on the wall as regards the conversation the ref presumably had with the SPL on his way up the road.

And the number of times he bounced that ball on the pitch before apparently at last accepting that it wasn't suddenly doing anything other than rebounding feebly once before stopping dead was amazing. You saw a couple of attempts on STV but they totalled well into double figures.

QUESTION - does this therefore mean that no SPL game at the TCS is going to be able to be postponed before the arrival of the match referee? If so, where does that leave travelling fans?

Anyway... maybe time to put this incident on to the back burner and hope instead that the pitch has dried up by Saturday. The rain/ snow is forecast to stop by tomorrow and the last BBC forecast I saw was for sunshine on Saturday. Fingers crossed.

Edited February 3, 2011 by Charles Bannerman

[MissICT]

With the poor weather forcast I wonder if they will be calling saturdays game tomorrow!

[L_G]

With the poor weather forcast I wonder if they will be calling saturdays game tomorrow!

As CB says the forecast is a bit better so hopefully the game will go ahead as planned. As far as I'm aware it was only a bit of the pitch that was a problem and I'm certain Tommy is on the case.

[Charles Bannerman]

With the poor weather forcast I wonder if they will be calling saturdays game tomorrow!

As CB says the forecast is a bit better so hopefully the game will go ahead as planned. As far as I'm aware it was only a bit of the pitch that was a problem and I'm certain Tommy is on the case.

Yes, it seemed mainly to be roughly a circle maybe of 20 odd yards diameter centring around the D at the North end.

And I am equally certain that Tommy is on the case! Possibly his main constrain is that he can't spike as deep as he would like to drain off the water because that would burst the USH pipes.

But I would VERY much doubt if a decision would be taken tomorrow, given the potential for improvement which overnight Friday - Saturday seems to offer.

Edited February 3, 2011 by Charles Bannerman

[old caley girl]

I agree, a total joke and very insulting to any local officials of whatever grade.

What planet do these people actually live on?

I would have thought that someone local like Jimmy Johnstone or Bill Machray - vastly experienced ex referees who have gone on to become referee supervisors and who actually assess the kind of people the SPL seem to insist must carry out inspections - might have been perfectly capable of deciding whether a pitch is playable or not.

On the other hand Bill or Jimmy could have got to the TCS long before the match referee whose late arrival presumably maximised the chances of the game going ahead. I would have been a very interested fly on the wall as regards the conversation the ref presumably had with the SPL on his way up the road.

And the number of times he bounced that ball on the pitch before apparently at last accepting that it wasn't suddenly doing anything other than rebounding feebly once before stopping dead was amazing. You saw a couple of attempts on STV but they totalled well into double figures.

QUESTION - does this therefore mean that no SPL game at the TCS is going to be able to be postponed before the arrival of the match referee? If so, where does that leave travelling fans?

Anyway... maybe time to put this incident on to the back burner and hope instead that the pitch has dried up by Saturday. The rain/ snow is forecast to stop by tomorrow and the last BBC forecast I saw was for sunshine on Saturday. Fingers crossed.

Charles will you be asking the question to the SPL on our behalf?

[Yngwie]

Dundee United boss Peter Houston said his team "dodged a bullet" by having their game at Inverness on Wednesday called off - the Tannadice side were without eight first-team regulars. (The Herald)

[MissICT]

Any news on the state of the pitch? Hope tommy is working extra hard!

[kencar]

Considering it's snowing heavily just now things aren't looking promising

[MissICT]

Very wet!! Too warm for the snow to lie! Hope the tempature doesn't drop.

Tonights Weather

tomorrows weather

Edited February 4, 2011 by MissICT