Until someone very important speaks... we’ll keep using our pitch, this is boring
Clarke slams PFA pitch petition after claiming it would cost Killie £10m to build training centre as Ndjoli says rivals use their plastic as an excuse
STEVE CLARKE doesn’t feel the need to justify the Rugby Park surface until someone “really important” says the rules have changed and it needs ripped up.
And Kilmarnock striker Michael Ndjoli reckons losing opponents merely use artificial pitches as an easy excuse.
The Killie boss made it crystal clear he had no interest in responding directly to the Improving Pitches Petition which was handed to the SPFL by the members of PFA Scotland.
Scotland’s top-flight players want artificial pitches axed but Clarke said: “There are rules in place and until someone really important tells us those rules have changed then I don’t see the need for us to sit here and discuss plastic pitches.
“I’ve already said what I have to say about them in August and again in October. I can’t discuss the subject every month because it’s boring.
“In an ideal world we would have our own training centre in East Ayrshire before we put a grass pitch back down on Rugby Park.”
Clarke told the club’s recent agm it could cost £10million to make such alterations and added: “That is a pretty conservative figure and that money isn’t in the game up here unfortunately.”
Ndjoli backed his gaffer and says in some situations the complaints are down to sour grapes.
He added: “It just goes down to mindset.
“For us as players there will always be an excuse, whether it’s the ref, whether it’s the pitches, whatever. Pitch is too wide, it’s too long, the grass isn’t cut properly. Since I’ve been here I’ve heard quite a lot of clubs talk about the pitches.
“I can’t speak about years gone by but I’m sure they were not as angry about it as they are now.
“Because you’re doing so well as a team with the smaller details and what you’re doing as a whole, it gets questioned more.
“Teams are complaining about the 3G pitches but we have to train on one all week and then go and play on a grass pitch.
“It could be Dundee away, it could be Celtic away, or Rangers. Each of those pitches will be different.
“It’s just about if you want to win the game. Is it an excuse for some? A hundred per cent.
“It’s an easy excuse. When we lost 5-1 at Celtic we could have said the same thing about training all week on 3G and then playing on grass.
“It’s just different in terms of club set-ups.
“I’ve never heard us complain about it. If you bring it to light we are doing the same thing that every team are doing, just the other way around.
“Rugby Park is a beautiful stadium. It’s big and I don’t think the pitch is bad if I’m being honest with you.
“If teams get a result you don’t see them complaining about the pitch.”
Celtic will go on to the surface
tomorrow for a crucial league clash and their recent experiences have not been pleasant.
The champions have lost on their last two visits and Clarke reckons that’s down to the ability and attitude of his players.
He said: “I think it helped that in my first game in charge we got a 1-1 draw at Ibrox and then a week later we had the same result at Parkhead.
“So within 10 days of me sitting in the hotseat the players believed we could play against these teams and match them.
“We’ve never approached games against Celtic and Rangers thinking that anything we take from them is a bonus.
“It’s probably more to do with the way I was brought up and how I think about these things. Games are there to be won if you do things properly.
“We focus on ourselves. Concentrate on what we can do, no matter who the opposition is.
“We know we’re not going to win every game but as long as we’re competitive we’ll have a chance of taking something from them.
“I honestly don’t know how you go about giving players that belief.
“Sometimes you just point them in the right direction.”
Killie haven’t recorded three straight home wins over Celtic in 55 years.
But Clarke said: “It’s just a statistic to dig up. It would be nice to be more competitive than we were the last time we played Celtic when they played very well but we didn’t do ourselves justice. “Because we’ve done so well before and after that match you can put it down as an off day. “We bounced back from that and went on a good little run and that defeat also came at the end of a heavy schedule for us. “We’d just put a big effort into beating Hibs away and Livingston at home and left ourselves a little empty for Celtic.”