Rangers visit Dundee on Wednesday live on Sky Sports in a rearranged fixture with pitch inspection at 11am on morning of game; the original game was called off after heavy rain made pitch unplayable; Dundee's contingency plan would be to play it on April 16/17 if this game is off
Wednesday 10 April 2024 12:06, UK
Dundee remain confident Wednesday's rearranged Scottish Premiership match at home to Rangers will go ahead as planned - live on Sky Sports - with a pitch inspection to take place at 11am on the morning of the game.
Heavy rain caused the original game at Dens Park to be postponed on March 17, and similar weather this week has raised further concerns the fixture will once again be called off.
A Dundee club statement on Tuesday said: "This afternoon Dundee Football Club have been in discussion with the league regarding the pitch at The Scot Foam Stadium.
"Due to the recent heavy rain, it has been agreed that it is in the best interest of all parties if a pitch inspection takes place tomorrow morning at The Scot Foam Stadium in order that an early decision is communicated ahead of the evening match against Rangers.
"This pitch inspection will be conducted by the match referee. We will then announce the outcome of the inspection."
But if the game failed to pass the 11am pitch inspection, Dundee managing director John Nelms insists it will not be moved to another venue or new date later this week. Instead he would hope to play it next week, after the scheduled final round of pre-split fixtures.
Dundee's game at home to Motherwell on Saturday went ahead after a third pitch inspection two hours before kick-off.
"We're as confident as we can be," Nelms told Sky Sports News on Tuesday when asked if he thinks the game will go ahead. "We've done everything we can do to make the pitch playable and right now the areas of concern we have covered and we've had them covered since yesterday. The timing of the rain is always an issue here.
"We've done everything we can do to get the water draining out of the pitch. We did that before Saturday's game but once again it was a timing issue. We got that game on and the pitch didn't look pretty but it played well. It was safe under foot and the ball rolled and bounced the way it should do.
"The covers are on and we have heavier covers on the areas that caused a little bit of an issue. The plan is to keep those covers on, continue the work the groundsmen have been doing and we'll see what happens in the next 24 hours.
"The rest of the pitch deals with the weather quite well. We have three areas that struggle. Keeping the water off those areas as long as we can is what is key."
When asked if the club would move this fixture to another venue or date this week Nelms said "no, absolutely not", before adding the club's contingency plan would instead be to play the game on April 16 or 17 during the Scottish Cup week.
Dundee have no fixture that week, while Rangers face Hearts on April 21 in their Scottish Cup semi-final.
The final games before the league splits into a top and bottom six are due to take place this weekend, with Dundee at Aberdeen on Saturday, while Rangers visit Ross County live on Sky Sports on Sunday.
Dundee currently occupy the final spot for a top-half finish and would seal it if they were to win either of their final two games. Closest challengers Hibernian and Motherwell meet on Saturday, meaning all three clubs are in with a chance of finishing sixth.
Nelms added: "Luckily we don't play the split until the 27th [of April] so we still have the 16th and 17th of next week, which I've been looking at a lot of weather reports for - and it's supposed to be dry for the four days prior to those days so you would think that would be the logical move.
"We want to play with our fans and their fans. That's the reason we do this - we're an entertainment business and it needs to be entertaining for the fans. That's the foremost point of this whole thing so there are no other contingency plans from our side other than the 16th and 17th.
"Right now the idea is the game is on, and if the game's not on we'll have a contingency plan that will be put forward to us at that point in time."
Dundee manager Tony Docherty told Sky Sports News he is not thinking about a potential postponement.
"I've got in my head, and they players have got in their head, that the game is on so we prepare accordingly for that until someone tells me otherwise," he said.
"We're training on a training pitch that's quite similar in terms of it's wet. We've had ridiculous weather up here, it's been torrential.
"My job is to prepare the team accordingly and we're just getting ready for what's going to be a good game on Wednesday night."
Rangers will travel to Dundee on Tuesday with manager Philippe Clement keen for an early decision on the condition of the pitch.
"We need to stay outside of that, but it's difficult because you want to prepare well with your team.
"We will travel to Dundee again, be in a hotel this evening and tomorrow all day and there's a doubt that we can play a game.
"It's a weird thing because this is a top league and I don't know any top league anywhere else in Europe in the last 20 years that this can happen.
"Your preparation is difficult because you don't know if the game can go on and you don't even know what is the alternative.
"As a manager I would like to have a solution today and a decision today so at least you can make plans and you can prepare your team.
"If the game is postponed tomorrow we lose one day that we cannot train with the players and we don't know yet what the alternative can be.
"I think that's a decision to be made by the SPFL, they're making the schedule but if they speak about next week then for sure it can't be in Dundee because no one knows what the weather will be next week."
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