Dundee chief John Nelms shares if clash v Rangers will go ahead amid ‘contingency plans’
Dundee managing director John Nelms expects the clash versus Rangers to go ahead despite the issues with the pitch and admits there are no contingency plans in place involving a neutral venue.
The Gers will be looking to go top of the SPFL after their stunning 3-3 draw with Celtic at the weekend, with this game initially postponed due to a waterlogged pitch and rescheduled.
But the pitch has seen big concerns, with Motherwell raging that their weekend clash went ahead despite issues in events that were described as “farcical” by Four Lads.
However, while speaking to Sky Sports (9 April), Nelms admitted he was confident the game would go ahead on Tuesday despite contingency plans being in place for next week just in case.
“We’re as confident as we can be,” he said. “We’ve done everything we can do to make the pitch playable and right now the areas of concern we’ve had covered and we’ve had covered since yesterday.
“But like I said, the timing of the rain is always an issue here.
“The plan is to keep those covers on, continue with the work that the groundsmen have been doing and we’ll see what happens in the next 24 hours.
“Luckily the split doesn’t happen until the 27th so we still have the 16th and 17th of next week, which I’ve been looking at a lot of weather reports, it’s supposed to be dry for the four days prior to those days. So therefore you would think that would be the logical move [if the game is off].
Nelms was then asked about the possibility of a game being played at a neutral venue, but he was quick to rule that out.
“No, absolutely not. We want to play the game in front of our fans and their fans. That’s why we do this. That’s the foremost point of this. There’s no other contingency plans from our side other than the 16th and 17th.”
Rangers will want this game on for advantage in title race
After the Old Firm draw at Ibrox at the weekend, the consensus of who has the advantage in the title race has switched with many now backing Celtic.
But it can’t be ignored that they have dropped points in silly games this season, and Rangers have been pretty ruthless since Philippe Clement came into the club.
A win over Dundee would put Rangers back to the top of the SPFL table ahead of the split, and that will just add pressure to Celtic as they become chasers rather than being chased.
If the game gets postponed again then it would just be an inconvenience for the club, even if only for another week, and they’ll want to get games ticked off with points on the board.
For now the game is on, and Dundee are confident that it will happen so fans can hope they will be allowed to travel and support the team to a victory.
In other Rangers news, Kris Boyd has named one Ibrox star who could save the club millions this summer.
For more Rangers news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.