Plastic turf pockmarks our game and turns TV viewers off, insists Strachan

GORDON STRACHAN believes the Scottish game is blighted by plastic pitches serving up ‘boring’ and ‘functional’ football.

The former Scotland manager insists matches played on the three top-flight surfaces are a huge turn-off to TV viewers.

‘These pitches don’t benefit our game at all. It’s embarrassing and disappointing,’ said Strachan.

‘On one hand, we say we’re improving but then, on the other hand, our league is that good we’re playing on plastic pitches.

‘The best players in the world, at the World Cup, the Champions League and so on, all play on grass. Playing on plastic pitches isn’t football.

‘If you don’t believe me, host the Europa League final at the Tony Macaroni Stadium and see how well it goes down.

‘If we sell the Scottish game properly, that means we can get more money and pay players better to stop them going to Salford City, Peterborough or all sorts of clubs in England.

‘We should be keeping the best players in our game and having a right good league. We have a competitive league just now. It’s interesting, there have been good games at the top of the league.

‘But, if I’m watching TV on a Sunday, you’ve got perfect pitches and full stadiums in England.

‘Invariably, if you saw one of those three pitches, the viewer would say: “What the hell’s that?”

‘If we want to sell the Scottish product around the world, you can’t with these pitches, because they turn the viewer off.

‘They will change channel and watch the golf, or something else. It’s not entertaining.

‘Fans like to see players taking opponents on, leaving them on their backside. Exciting individual moments, like gamesaving slide tackles or dramatic diving headers.

‘Things that make the game more engaging. What you get on plastic pitches is functional football. No defender can go to ground and it’s not easy for wingers to send a guy the wrong way because of how sticky the surface is.

‘It’s boring. If you go to the Masters in America and see plastic greens, that would be the end of the Masters. That’s not the way it’s played.’

Steve Clarke defended his club’s right, chiefly for financial reasons, to profit from an artificial surface, while Gary Holt has gone to war on the PFA member critics of Livingston’s version.

Strachan has cast doubt on the authenticity of the support for plastic pitches from any toplevel boss. He added: ‘There are three people I feel sorry for in this situation — the managers of Kilmarnock, Livingston and Hamilton.

‘For them, that’s just the way things are at their clubs. I met Billy Bowie, the Killie chairman, who has done a great job there, in La Manga a few years back, and he said Killie is a community club.

‘Fine. But go and be like Spartans in Edinburgh, if that’s what you want to do. If you want to be a professional club, do the professional thing.

‘No pro wants to play on an artificial surface. Those three bosses don’t like it, either, they just can’t say that. Anyone who says they do is either lying, or just very strange indeed.’

Gordon Strachan was speaking exclusively to Paddy Power News. To read more, visit news.paddypower.com