Jump to content

Pitch Inspection***GAME OFF***


L_G

Recommended Posts

After reading Peter Lawell's comments on the postponement of today's game I would like to say that

the man is an overweight, ignorant, disgrace.

well i've just read his statement and i have to admit i can find nothing in it that's not the truth, all he had for ICT was praise, it was the state of pitch me was not happy with, and the inconvenience to the celtic fans, well that's his job and he was spot on as well, our pitch should have been covered considering the rain that was forcast, even the iphone app said there was heavy rain in Inverness overnight.

is it just a wee moan you like?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am absolutely astounded that no one from the SPL was available when both ICT and Celtic tried to contact them having come to an agreement to put the game back to a 13:00hrs kick-off, not that I know the ins and outs of the possibilties of doing this but surely it was one since both clubs tried this route.

For the SPL not to have a representative available on a weekend where a full card takes place is ridiculous, no business runs over their busiest time without having someone on duty and now no one knows if it was possible to put the game back for this reason. It just highlights the massive issues that our football organisations have that need sorted out from the core.

As for Lawells comments, I have already posted in regards to his mouth and what comes out of it so I'm not prepared to waste anymore of my time.

Next thing will be it's a conspiracy.

if that is imdeed the case then I agree, rain virtually stopped after the 10am call off, by 11.30 pitch certainly looked as good as many games at other grounds had been played on this season

if games can have a KO delayed because of crowd congestiion or indeed I do recall a game v Aberdeen? having kick off delayed due to delays caused by roadworks on A96,

so a little common sence would have said give a little more time, think game could have probably gone ahead at 12 anyway, but definatly later 1pm 2pm?,

if we have a water retention issue get one of those rollers they use at cricket games to soak up the water, sure it would cost less than we have lost in the 2 recent tv call offs

and yes who ever is to blame it will be Inverness CT will look at fault in the peoples eyes down south regardless of the truth

Edited by CaleyTom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am absolutely astounded that no one from the SPL was available when both ICT and Celtic tried to contact them having come to an agreement to put the game back to a 13:00hrs kick-off, not that I know the ins and outs of the possibilties of doing this but surely it was one since both clubs tried this route.

For the SPL not to have a representative available on a weekend where a full card takes place is ridiculous, no business runs over their busiest time without having someone on duty and now no one knows if it was possible to put the game back for this reason. It just highlights the massive issues that our football organisations have that need sorted out from the core.

As for Lawells comments, I have already posted in regards to his mouth and what comes out of it so I'm not prepared to waste anymore of my time.

Next thing will be it's a conspiracy.

if that is imdeed the case then I agree, rain virtually stopped after the 10am call off, by 11.30 pitch certainly looked as good as many games at other grounds had been played on this season

if games can have a KO delayed because of crowd congestiion or indeed I do recall a game v Aberdeen? having kick off delayed due to delays caused by roadworks on A96,

so a little common sence would have said give a little more time, think game could have probably gone ahead at 12 anyway, but definatly later 1pm 2pm?,

if we have a water retention issue get one of those rollers they use at cricket games to soak up the water, sure it would cost less than we have lost in the 2 recent tv call offs

and yes who ever is to blame it will be Inverness CT will look at fault in the peoples eyes down south regardless of the truth

We heard this on Radio Scotland

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if we have a water retention issue get one of those rollers they use at cricket games to soak up the water, sure it would cost less than we have lost in the 2 recent tv call offs

This! I love the idea of rollers that soak up the excess water, would be much cheaper than covers and a lot easier to manage. :smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will not lose out on TV money as this game is part of the contractual package which all clubs signed up to with Sky and ESPN. Whether the kick off could have been delayed would have depended on ESPN's schedule for the rest of the day as much as anything else. Fact is that another call off due to a waterlogged pitch, especially as late as this one, is embarrassing for the club. One night of rain, however heavy, should not cause problems like this, and we obviously do have a drainage problem which needs to be sorted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[info='Time and incessant rain too much for us']Official Caley Thistle statement on the circumstances of the Celtic match being postponed.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC would like to express their deep disappointment and apologise to fans of both teams for the postponement of today's SPL game with Celtic.

The game being off is unfortunately due to a combination of issues that conspired against the Club, but we appreciate that supporters will be frustrated.

The facts of the matter are that heavy overnight rain caused a major problem to our playing surface. By 8 am it was unplayable but with a good short-term weather forecast, we felt the game could go on.

We asked the referee to wait another half hour, which we are positive, would have made all the difference in fast-improving conditions, but at 9.45 am he called the game off. The pitch was playable within the hour and we feel the game could have been played had we had the opportunity to delay the inspection, however we do appreciate the referee had to make his decision on the prevailing conditions at the time.

Before the referee's verdict, the club had tried to contact the SPL to have the kick off delayed by an hour until 1pm, and Celtic indicated that this was suitable to them. Unfortunately this was not possible.

It is a great pity that this much-anticipated fixture could not be played. Had it been a normal 3 pm kick off, there would have been no pitch problem whatsoever.

Overnight rain, and the 12 noon start gave us too little time to allow sufficient drainage before the referee's inspection. We had people working on the pitch from 7am but the timescale and the incessant rain were not in our favour.

The Chairman stated "given that our record for having our games on has been superb and the fact we have now lost 3 games to a flooded pitch in a short period of time we will be getting a second opinion with regard to the playing surface so we can decide what if anything requires to be done to improve the drainage on the pitch.

The postponement does not help either team. Celtic are going for the title while we are anxious to book a top six spot. We look forward to the game being rescheduled as soon as is practicable.

[/info]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After reading Peter Lawell's comments on the postponement of today's game I would like to say that

the man is an overweight, ignorant, disgrace.

Bit rich coming from him. Why was our infamous cup victory postponed again? Was it due to their crap stadium falling apart? I lol'd at the 'Celtic fans being the lifeblood of Scottish football' - what a topper!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sorry but with each club wanting to delay the kick off the only people who couldn't be contacted to make this decision were the SPL! With Peter Lawell saying the fans should be considered more, it was him and Celtic who as the Inspection drew closer wanted the game cancelled as they thought the pitch would be too much of a leveller! It's great in hindsight to look after the event and say what if we waited but at the time when the referee was forced into the decision, he made the correct call. Given that the majority of supporters would have been in the vacinity of Inverness, why would the SPL not man up and give the game every chance of going ahead, but as someone else has said, not having someone available to make this decision was all down to the SPL and they can always hide behind the referee calling the game off but if they were available they could have taken the executive decision to put this game back and save everyone the inconvenience of it being cancelled.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The solution is quite obvious but, due to entrenched attitudes at the SFA which will preclude all possibility of flexibility occurring in their approach to doing things, and dynamic CHANGE, it will never happen.

To be a visionary leader in football in Britain for them would be anarchism or at least anathema.

They will never think outside the old traditional box and seem to be determined to always be trailing the pack. They will not encourage real change by originality of ideas and a willingness to seriously review procedures.

They are slaves to convention and tradition and when T.V calls the shots over any decision they might make then do we have a problem? You bet.

The SPL season should start to co-incide with that of the north american Major League Soccer which commenced about three weeks ago. They will play in much brighter, fairer conditions generally speaking , the crowds will not be frozen stiff or wet and will enjoy the whole atmosphere better. There will probably also be less risk of injury, better ball passing and a faster more fluid game .

I rest my case and welcome positive criticism

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think, in the heat of the moment, many things are said by many fans and officials of both sides, and yes, it is embarrassing for any club to have a game called off but have a look at reality. We have had USH at this ground since Jan 2005. We have had rain, snow, hail and wind every year since then. How many games in all that time have we had to call off? Very few. Generally, we are able to cope but sometimes, unexpected freak weather hits and we cant cope. Is that the clubs fault? And yes, an inch of rain in an eight hour period is freak weather. If that same rainfall have been over Elgin the Lossie would once agaoin be over its banks. Its nobodies fault.

Celtic should be thankful that this postponement made Rangers take their eye of the ball and lose.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After reading Peter Lawell's comments on the postponement of today's game I would like to say that

the man is an overweight, ignorant, disgrace.

Bit rich coming from him. Why was our infamous cup victory postponed again? Was it due to their crap stadium falling apart? I lol'd at the 'Celtic fans being the lifeblood of Scottish football' - what a topper!

how do you keep the wind away from the stadium? you can't

how do you keep the rain off the pitch? put a cover over it.

fact is we have had two games against celtic called off due to a water logged pitch, more than a wee bit embarrassing is it not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right or wrong, this was clearly a marginal decision and a difficult one for the referee. It is often the case in these situations that there is just one area of the pitch which is causing some concern. It would be this type of situation where the cricket pitch type roller could come into its own. These bits of kit can shift a lot of water and would make short work of a small area of concern.

But you can never win. If we had such kit it would be used in circumstances where without it an earlier postponement would be straightforward. There would be valiant efforts to get the pitch playable but all to no avail. A late call off would then lead to criticism of the club.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You'd think we were the only team to ever have a game called off because of rain the way some people are going on!!!

Every inch of rain that falls on our pitch is upwards of 200,000 litres of water, if that's not draining into the pitch it has to drain off somewhere else...and then into the drainage system. I've no idea what rate it was following at this morning, but it was as bad as I've seen in a long time. When down dropping my old man at work the wipers on the car were struggling to keep the windscreen clear.

Wherever the water goes it's going to overwhelm most drainage systems....anyone out and about early this morning would have seen the roundabout beside Halfords looking like an island and many other mains drains were over flowing and struggling to cope.

A cover on a pitch with that volume of water falling will not do much good unless it's of the tent type as it will actually draw water from the full/backed up drains to the surface, even with tent style covers if the pressure in the drains is greater than the pressure above it will force its way up.

Maybe covers would have helped enough to get a different decision from the Ref today, and maybe they would have just created other kinds of issues....I don't know, but I do know that planning and dealing with these things, especially to the extent we saw this morning, involves more than just throwing a tarp over the pitch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i was out in glasgow last night for my flatmates 21st. i had no sleep but still managed to get a bus up. when i got into inverness it was lovely i spent a day in inverness doing nothing until my train home because the SPL couldnt use some common sense and put the ko back which would have ensured it go ahead with the weather the way it was. Who are the SPL do they actually do anything to improve the game and make sure the season is run efficiently as possible not from what i have seen. It is as bad as the police force who have had a lot of power taken away because of this red tape of having to do paper work and all these really crap rules the SPL employ is red tape

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If this isn't a reason for an April break, I don't know what is.

Does anyone care what Celtic and their fans think, have they not had their fair share of finger pointing already this season? Don't let Rangers fans thank you for it either, try to explain about the weather, and nature, how buildings are man made, but the weather can't really be controlled by man. Draw a diagram if necessary, you know the one with the sea, the sun, a hill, and a cloud, with arrows, and Simba and Mufasa explaining about the circle of life.

Half the Selik support wern't even anywhere near Perth, let alone the stadium when the game was called of. They were in their houses in Aviemore, Culloden, Smifton eh, Hilton, The Ferry, and for the few that make a weekend of it and come over from Dublin on the Friday, the cells. For the few that do actually come from Glasgow, and the surrounding towns that's have several senior league teams between them that could all do with an extra supporter or two,, what were you doing leaving at 6:30? The game was supposed to kick off at 12, not 10, you were going to be waaaaay to early.

  • Agree 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ha, heres another one for the hapless SPL to wriggle out of.

Does this mean Lennon the discriminated, is allowed to use this as one of his get out of jail free cards or does he have to pass go first?

Sometimes I think they have a monopoly on the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If this isn't a reason for an April break, I don't know what is.

Does anyone care what Celtic and their fans think, have they not had their fair share of finger pointing already this season? Don't let Rangers fans thank you for it either, try to explain about the weather, and nature, how buildings are man made, but the weather can't really be controlled by man. Draw a diagram if necessary, you know the one with the sea, the sun, a hill, and a cloud, with arrows, and Simba and Mufasa explaining about the circle of life.

Half the Selik support wern't even anywhere near Perth, let alone the stadium when the game was called of. They were in their houses in Aviemore, Culloden, Smifton eh, Hilton, The Ferry, and for the few that make a weekend of it and come over from Dublin on the Friday, the cells. For the few that do actually come from Glasgow, and the surrounding towns that's have several senior league teams between them that could all do with an extra supporter or two,, what were you doing leaving at 6:30? The game was supposed to kick off at 12, not 10, you were going to be waaaaay to early.

and what about the ICT fans who had travelled up from the glasgow area, take your head out of the sand and stop the childish insults towards visiting supporters who help the club's bank balance, we get more from the OF than the rest of the teams in the SPL, most of the Celtic fans were very close to Inverness when the news was broke that the game was off. if people want to support a team that plays miles away from them then that's up to them, i live ten minutes from saint midden but drive up to Inverness to watch the Caley because i choose to.

  • Disagree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://blogs.soccern..._v_celtic_g.php

really cannot say much about this article other than : **** !!!! Surprised ESPN associate with it, especially as all his other articles appear to be inflammatory too.

What an ill informed condescending *****.

I see if you read the comments further down, he seems to think that the fact that the fact that the Celtic groundsman has won the best groundsman award three times, backs up his argument. Like most Celtic fans, he's more interested in point scoring than actual facts! And looking at some of his other articles, they all seem to be of the same cringworthy ilk.

Edited by Renegade
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. : Terms of Use : Guidelines : Privacy Policy