‘Absurd’ talk is dismissed after game called off
BURCHNALL SAYS AWAY TEST COULD HAVE GONE AHEAD IF LYNN PREPARED BETTER
NOTTS County head coach Ian Burchnall says claims that he did not want to play King’s Lynn Town on Boxing Day are “absurd”.
The National League clash was called off an hour before kick-off when referee David Richardson deemed the surface unplayable due to surface water at the Walks Stadium.
Notts fans had already arrived at the ground before the decision was taken, sparking anger from those who had paid for tickets and travel.
There have been suggestions from King’s Lynn’s local media that Notts did not want to play the game because of the state of the pitch.
Burchnall, however, believes the game could have gone ahead had Lynn been better prepared.
“I think it’s quite an absurd suggestion,” he said.
“We turned up ready to play and we’d had absolutely no inclination that there was an issue with the pitch.
“When we got there, immediately, the referee said ‘Ian, I think you need to see the pitch. In my opinion, it’s not playable.’
“There was a lot of surface water and we had staff at their ground early in the day setting up and there wasn’t anybody working on it.
“I think after the referee expressed there may be a concern and that we wanted to give it another 20 minutes to see how it settles, there were a couple of guys who kind of put a bit of effort in to try to remove surface water but it was too little too late.
“In my opinion, if King’s Lynn felt so strongly that this was a really important game to play and economically, they needed to play it, I understand that but there should have been preparation for the weather because we knew there was going to be a lot of rain.
“There were no covers on. There was no groundsman working on the pitch, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to them that the game was off.
“I certainly didn’t plan to travel to King’s Lynn on Boxing Day, sit in a dressing room and play no football. Every single person associated with Notts County wanted that game on.
“I didn’t want our supporters to travel there and not see a game but, sadly, that decision was taken out of our hands. I think it could have been preventable, given the fact that there was rain for a couple of days. There are measures you can take to protect the pitch.”
Lynn chairman Stephen Cleeve said they had offered to play Notts on Tuesday this week but the offer had been rejected by Notts, who have not played since December 18.
Burchnall said the offer was made on the Sunday night, hours after the original game was called off. It was, he said, an unrealistic proposal.
“Let’s be honest, you only have to look at a weather report to know that the rain was getting heavier for the next two days,” he said.
“The pitch was unplayable on a Sunday so to call us that night and ask us to play on Tuesday would have meant we then would have had to have sold tickets and rely on 700800 fans to travel again and to put themselves out at a cost to travel.
“We then have a cost to rearrange everything at our end. We have to rip up and change the training schedule, which would affect the Wrexham game (on Sunday) for the likelihood that it would have been called off anyway because the weather wasn’t getting any better.
“The pitch certainly wasn’t going to improve. It was thrown out there that we could play Tuesday night but it’s completely unrealistic.
“We have to think about the supporters first at this point because so many travelled and were disappointed.
“Let’s put it at a later date when we know it can happen. We can get the fans over, have a proper game and I think everybody would prefer that.”