BREN: WE’LL CUT A DASH
Brendan Rodgers insists Murrayfield will be pitch perfect for Celtic today – after talks with the SRU’s head groundsman. The Hoops boss was embroiled in a bitter turf war with Hearts over the length of the Tynecastle grass when they
met there back in May. Rodgers claimed Hearts’ tactic of growing the grass long to stifle Celtic’s style of passing on the deck was “embarrassing”.
But the Celts boss has satisfied himself that they’ ll be playing on a carpet at the home of rugby in today’s Betfred Cup semi-final.
Murrayf ield has the same £2m hybrid surface installed at Celtic Park earlier this year.
Jambos boss Craig Levein claimed yesterday his team were far better suited now to playing on a short surface.
But after meeting with award- winning former Falkirk groundsman Jim Dawson on Tuesday, Rodgers said: “It wi l l hopefully make for a good game then.
“The pitch will be 105m long and 68m wide. That’s the same size as Hampden.
“And the length of grass? That will be down to 24mm, which is UEFA guideline size – and just happens to be the exact same length as at Celtic Park.
“I have spoken to the grounds man at Murrayfield and they’ve got standards.
“They have top ground staff, the pitch is superb and they want a showcase game too. One guy was from Falkirk and the other is a Raith fan. I had a good chat with both of them.
“They’re neutrals and want the best pitch.
“I spoke to them when they were working on the pitch when we were training there on Tuesday.
“It would be ignorant not to talk to them, right?
“I was just asking them what size they though the pitch would be – and how long the grass would be!”