Steve Diggle

On-loan Motherwell keeper John Ruddy could be a summer transfer target for Celtic. (Daily Express)

As far as you know The point is - if the only time anyone could ever comment on here was if they were an expert then I'd guess there would be about 10 posts on here since this site actually started - and that includes yerself, f'ont of all knowledge' and 'master of wit and repartee' - weeyin. people care about their club and they have opinions That's exactly waht this site is about - unless I'm missing something. What I'm saying is that perhaps they're not 'experts' although a few appear to be not too far of and some have a really sound knowledge. Personally I feel I can grasp what's been explained to me by the club through the summer and can relate it to what I already know and my opinion isn't that far removed to some of the guys that have qualifications and expertise (i.e. OTF). So put yer tuppenceworth in. Have the debate and let it roll on.

Yeah - the concept of grass growing and soil draining and frost thawing is complicated as fuck

I think everybody agrees on the time to bed in aspect, and the effect of the weather, and most think that left to grow it will recover. The massive problem is that we need to stage top level football matches on it right now and no-one can argue that it's good enough for what folk pay at the gate.

Hmmmmmm Tom Hateley or Paul Hartley???? Tom Hateley or Paul Hartley??? Tom Hateley or Paul Hartley. . . . . Tough one that

See in all honesty - that's not even approaching a valid point. Fir Park was always played on every saturday - if the first team ver away the reserves were at home. There's always a pile up in the early months of the year too

I think the time has long since passed that the club should have issued a statement on what the way forward is. Not that we're poor wee souls that have experienced any number of calamities and natural disasters and we've tried our best and it all hasn't quite worked out etc etc etc etc. That actually fixes nothing. I for one dont think that anything grass like is gonna grow on that pile of dead roots and sand anytime this decade. As supporters we all want to know what's gonna be done to fix it and when.

It's a fair point about the inspections - however I think it's purely down to the fact that we (Scottish Football) are that thick we'll say 'game on' if its dry, thawed and flat(ish) before kick off. The point about moving goalposts and an ad hoc rule book are correct also. However I think our pitch merits all the criticism it's getting. No-one should be playing on it.

On the other hand, firing the groundstaff would alert the SPL to a problem. The SPL already know in terms of replacing the old pitch we've done way more than enough - their expert was there all through the work in the summer. So that's a given and closed off. So what else could they really be investigating - if it's not to see whether or not we've blown our investment through incompetence. I'm with fatcalf - undersoil heating is a major problem and is contributing to poor pitches all over the place. we seem to have done something extra special though

We have the worst pitch in the league by a distance. Other pitches are poor but we can't use that as our defence. We're not being picked on, we're being scrutinised for several years of poor quality playing surface - and we know that this was the case - we're on a suspended fine. Other clubs (with the exception of The Saintees who may need to go before the beaks) will argue, like Killie and hackies did last year that they have experienced isolated incidents. Games have gone ahead on our pitch as it hasn't been waterlogged or frozen but it's hard to argue that it's NOT the most unsafe pitch in the league. I'm of the opinion that our pitch is 'technically' permanently unplayable. IF the article is true - there are a couple of points - The SPL had an independent expert watch every step of the £350K that we spent in the summer - so that part of the investigation should be pretty easy - we cant be taken to task for not doing the work. So if true they'll be looking at what we've done to the park since then. Something that many on here have been questioning but the club maintain has been carried out to the letter of Greentech's instructions. it may be an investigation into the competency of our ground staff. Like I posted in the Green Green Grass thread - we might have to bite the bullet and go for a full returf after the Killie game on Sat - with only one game scheduled in March. i.e. weigh up the benefit of spending money on a returf under our own steam against waiting for the £25K fine to kick in and then having to returf anyway. I don't think we've got any defence - we've brought this on ourselves.

I see Wigan are re-laying their whole pitch at the end of next week. looking at the fixture list after Saturday's game vs Killie we have one home game in March on the 13th vs Hearts and thats us until the 3rd April. given that the re-laid 'patches' seem to be holding up while the existing pitch seems to be deteriorating further (turning to dust). i wonder if the board / greentech would be considering turf replacement during this period. I mean the whole thing is gonna have to be redone in the summer - so do we re-turf now or re-seed then? me not know?

My vote is for 'Fix The Tattie Field'

It's a wee bit of banter weeyin - sorry for ruining your enjoyment of an always 100% serious and on topic site. It's a kinda dead thread anyway as Ladywell was pointed in the direction of where the on-topic stuff was happening. But don't let that get in the way of your fucking moaning!

Funnily enough i was part of that squad - Even though I assassinated for Scotland at schoolboy level I turned out for the Irish at U17, U19 and U21 - I'm seriously mulling over the idea of assassinating for Scotland again - so UK Passport

No mate I definitely did it - and Kay Burley's next

I think you'll find that the discussion on Jesus is here http://www.steelmenonline.co.uk/forums/ind...mp;#entry175496 and Thanks I don't know whether to bow humbly or assassinate you on your doorstep

http://www.steelmenonline.co.uk/forums/ind...mp;#entry175484 http://www.steelmenonline.co.uk/forums/ind...mp;#entry175486 Just been posted in existing threads. use the 'View New Posts' link to see where the recent traffic is

You wait an hour for a smartarse . . . . . .

I thought about that for a good while - couldn't think of any names that are worse than that big caveman. never a fuckin football player

Genuine question. (trying to draw a line under the very depressing who done what to whit?) What is being done? What can be done? in terms of remedial action to sort this mess out over the coming weeks. I know Leeann said in the official response that we are in dialogue with Greentech - but if the grass hasn't been involuntary manslaughtered then what's the prognosis doc? Are we gonna watch football on that shit-tip from now to the end of the season or can anything genuinely be done to improve the fare served up? Can we bring in lamps and claim Greentech - give the opitch a growth boost? Can we returf more / all of the park? Can the groundstaff do anything conventional to improve it quickly? Like I say genuine question.

Unfortunately the issue was round whether letters were recieved and appropriately handled and the genuine issues were body swerved - Gannon was the villain / Dallas was the good guy. Bottom line Gannon was 100% correct, Dallas is 100% a fud!

The meeting is a miniscule step and the output / press release / dallas's wrap up is exactly the same as it was when the first meeting happened under Mcghee's tenure. The refereeing standard is abysmal although I admit it is a tough gig. However the implications for wrong decisions is far too severe and can influence the destination of the SPL trophy, euro spots, top 6 spots and worse still relegation where livelihoods are at stake. Even in Scotland football is a multi million pound business and punters are charged fairly hefty admission prices. The standard of officiating should be of a suitable standard. For me we have piss poor refereeing standards. The flow of football is punctuated way too much for nonsense decisions that only serve to throw the spotlight on the official and not the players. The inconsistency over 90 minutes is something truly to behold (and I think that the Papac debacle the other night highlights that, it was caused by the ref and not necessarily the player - two hefty rangers challenges were completely ignored before the tackle on papac was blown up - totally piss poor refereeing.) Oh and the decisions that go the way of the Old Firm just take the wind out of the sails of - opposing players, fans, club officials alike - we all deserve better in terms of consistency and fairness. I think the SPL should have more to say on it too. essentially their product that they want to market worldwide is being badly affected by refereeing. We need more than small step improvements - the pace of change needs to take a massive jump and the heat on Mr Dallas should be something that has been making his life absolute hell for many months and it should be getting hotter by the day. It isn't tho! Why is that???? Hmmmmm

reading Dallas's interview today really pisses me off. Gannon was hung out to dry for his letters re the overall standard of refereeing and Dallas got on his high horse to defend his chums. Then he comes out and says that the standard so far this season hasn't been good enough. isn't that EXACTLY what Jim Gannon said to you you fucking fanny???

I love going to gigs and getting soaked with crappy warm lager from launched plastic pint pots. it would fill me with deep joy to experience the same at Fir Park on a cold Saturday in January. It ain't ever gonna happen.

Agreed Andy / Calm doon Pie!