SPFL pitches turning broadcasters OFF as Rangers boss Clement pinpoints 'work to be done'

Philippe Clement warned Scottish football risks selling itself short if groundsmen don’t bring Premiership pitches up to standard.

The Rangers manager takes his team to St Johnstone on Sunday for a lunchtime kick-off in Perth, with the Belgian boss admitting his squad must be ready for “a different type of surface” than their pristine Ibrox turf. It was this time last year that Clement’s predecessor as Rangers gaffer Michael Beale angered Saints chiefs when he branded the muddy McDiarmid turf a “cow field”.

Since then, St Johnstone have invested £100,000 to improve their drainage system. But Clement has been left unimpressed by some of the other top-flight tracts his team have visited. He’s not alone, with problem playing fields at Celtic, Dundee and St Mirren coming under fire recently. And the Ibrox boss fears sub-standard surfaces could affect the ability of SPFL chairmen to strike bumper telly deals in future.

“That there is still some work to do,” said Clement as he was asked for his take on the quality of Premiership pitches. You see all the top leagues and they are a really high standard now of surfaces.

“Football is a product and we are in the entertainment sector. So the better the product is, the more it’s worth.

“Where are the best pitches? In the best competitions, and I think the Premier League is a big example. The standards from the federations are really high towards the pitches. It’s also the better football you give, the more money you will get from television because people like to watch that more than when the ball bounces three times every pass you make.

“Then you don’t have a good product. It’s an important thing to raise the standards in that way. I think there are a few pitches in Scotland during