DANGER! BIN THE PLASTIC
Gerrard demands protection for players
STEVEN GERRARD has branded plastic pitches ‘dangerous’ and claims a Premiership ban would help safeguard players’ livelihoods.
The Rangers manager was speaking out in support of a PFA Scotland petition which was signed by players from the nine top-flight clubs with natural grass surfaces and submitted to the SPFL on Thursday.
Kilmarnock, Livingston and Hamilton all use artificial turf, with Gerrard yesterday singling out the Rugby Park pitch as the worst he had ‘ever walked on.’
Rangers winger Jamie Murphy suffered a serious knee injury there last August that is expected to keep him out
until the final weeks of the season. Backing the call for them to be outlawed, Gerrard said: ‘I don’t like plastic pitches. I didn’t like playing on them. I think they’re dangerous.’ He continued: ‘On your mind, you are thinking of the Jamie Murphy incident. ‘You are thinking of your family. Not all players are lucky enough to say: “I’m financially secure. My family are safe”. ‘These are people’s lives, where they have got to pay bills and support their families, yet you know that at any given moment, you could be wiped out for a full season — and there are no guarantees how your career is going to pan out. ‘All I ask is that owners and governing bodies think about people’s families and people’s bodies. I know because I’ve played on them. They’re not safe.’ Gerrard’s more immediate concern is ensuring he has a senior striker fit enough to face St Johnstone at Ibrox today. Jermain Defoe and Kyle Lafferty have suffered hamstring and calf knocks respectively, with both being nursed through a training session yesterday. Top scorer Alfredo Morelos is out as he serves the second of a three-match ban. Gerrard is optimistic Defoe and Lafferty will be available to start, but has recalled 17-year-old striker Dapo Mebude from Scotland Under-19 duty as potential cover. ‘Jermain has had some tightness, he’s had a scan and there’s nothing major there,’ said Gerrard. ‘Lafferty felt some tightness the day before yesterday. We had that imaged, too. Again, there’s nothing major there. ‘We’re confident both will be available.’ Wes Foderingham will start in goal after Rangers failed to overturn Allan McGregor’s two-match ban for a challenge on Aberdeen’s Lewis Ferguson. Rangers issued a short statement calling for an urgent review of the disciplinary system in a week when Kilmarnock’s Alan Power and St Mirren’s Paul McGinn avoided retrospective punishment for highlighted incidents. ‘I am doing my best to try to not talk about disciplinary, the SFA and referees,’ said Gerrard. ‘One, because you get in trouble for it. And, two, because there’s nothing I feel I can really do about it, except hope the process gets improved and finds consistency.’