Pitchfork army chief votes for summer football Bernabeu groundsman says switch would be ideal solution for Scotland

sportsmen at the pinnacle of their game demanding to play on the best surface in the world.

“The club want to be the best at everything and my department is no different. The pitch, medical department, commercia l depa r tment , the ticketing – we all have to match the team.

“I can’t say I have no budget or no staff, I have no excuses – so you have to produce the best. If it’s not the best I don’t work there.

“But it’s not just cash that drives these things – it’s people and their knowledge. Look at Morton. They have one of the best pitches in Scotland because they have a guy there who cares.

“Mark takes pride in his work and it shows. That’s why Celtic use his park, why Scotland use it. It’s not just about having pots of money to throw at pitches.”

Contrary to what you might think for men of the soil, neither are against artificial surfaces. Steve even has astroturf in his back garden.

And both are fans of the hybrid surface Arsenal use and which ha s recently been installed at Murrayfield.

But Paul shrugged: “I know a lot of people hate artificial surfaces but I like them – as long as they are used to complement the grass and save it.

“Morton train on artificial. That makes the stadium pitch better because you protect it.

“We’ve got four arti f icial and eight-and-a-half natural pitches at Real Madrid’s training facility and my grass pitches are better because of my artificial surfaces.

“The players are always going to prefer a good natural pitch – and with good maintenance and sensible usage you can keep it that way.

“The cost of an artificial pitch, say you give it a 10-year lifespan – and I’m sceptical they retain their quality for that long – then divide the cost of it at half a million quid by those 10 years.

“If you spend that 50 grand on maintenance of a grass pitch every year you get a good pitch.”