Rangers: Don Robertson explains Dundee postponement decision after Philippe Clement comments
Referee Don Robertson has had his say on the decision to postpone the Dundee versus Rangers match following comments made by Philippe Clement.
Rangers boss Clement reacted angrily to the announcement, which was made around an hour and a half before the scheduled 12pm kick-off on Sunday (17 March).
Clement pointed out that it is likely to be the only match called off anywhere in Scotland this weekend, but Robertson insists that ultimately it was a straightforward call.
“We made the decision to postpone today’s match, unfortunately,” he said on Sky Sports News [17 March, 12:15pm].
“The prime consideration for me is that of the players. You can see there are a number of areas, primarily in front of one of the dugouts here [that are unsafe].
“We’ve had to put a lot of sand down and it’s waterlogged. The ball isn’t travelling or bouncing so for me it’s quite an easy decision to say it’s unsafe to play.”
Asked if a decision could have been made earlier in the day, Robertson said: “We’re guided by the home club in that they will have first sight of the pitch.
“When they’ve arrived this morning they’ve seen that there’s areas of concern to them. They’ve then contacted the league and Scottish FA.
“A local official has then come to do a primary pitch inspection, but it was agreed between the clubs and SPFL that we’d wait until 10:15 – a time agreed by all parties – that a final decision would be taken with regards to the condition of the pitch.
“I’ve conducted that decision at 10:15 and made the decision the match should be postponed.”
Dundee have yet another game postponed at Dens Park
Dundee have now had four games called off at Dens Park this season due to a waterlogged pitch. While nobody can help heavy downpours, the surface is clearly not fit for purpose.
The club staff did all they could to make the game playable, but it was too little too late and the officials called it off.
It is easy to see why Clement was so angered as his side had already made it to Dens Park by the time of the announcement.
On that basis, could they not have waited another hour, hour and a half, before making a decision? It would have been even more frustrating had it been called off at that point, but the weather had cleared up and the pitch did look recoverable.
Given the game was being covered live by Sky Sports, the broadcaster may well have also had a say in the decision.
It means that Rangers now have an extra game to factor in after the international break, with Celtic sitting top now for at least the next fortnight.
In other Rangers news, Gary Keown insists a Gers regular should be nowhere near the starting line-up against Celtic after what he did.
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