Rangers manager Philippe Clement pointed to the Kilmarnock pitch as the Ibrox side left Rugby Park empty-handed earlier in October.
The Gers have toiled on recent visits to Ayrshire over the years and the club’s drastic form at Kilmarnock continued as the under-pressure Rangers team succumbed to a late Marley Watkins goal.
The 1-0 loss has contributed to a general feeling of malaise as Rangers blew the chance to cut the lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
But as Rangers fall even further behind following defeat to Aberdeen, Philippe Clement’s worst fears are set to be realised as Kilmarnock push back plans to finally scrap their artificial surface.
Philippe Clement: Kilmarnock pitch a ‘disadvantage’
Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park surface has been an immense leveller for Rangers over the last few seasons.
Indeed, since Rangers came back up to the Scottish Premiership in 2016, they’ve won only four times in twelve attempts.
Drawing twice and losing a quite remarkable six times, Philippe Clement even referenced the pitch as a ‘disadvantage’ due to the fact players returning from injury couldn’t play on it last season.
“There will be a lot of things (different),” said Clement when asked about the surface last season. “I made the comparison with a game of tennis.
“With playing at Wimbledon or playing on a clay court, it’s a little bit like that. Of course it’s different sports.
“The ball goes faster so you need to more precise. On a grass pitch when you give a pass it slows down after a while, on an artificial it keeps its speed or it goes even faster along the way. The ball bounces in a totally different way. If you give passes in the air or shots at goal you cannot go with your foot underneath the ball like you normally do on a grass pitch so you need to adapt your body towards that. Also the way of turning, the way of sprinting, the way of stopping is also different, so that’s a lot of things that are different.
“It is what it is. In the league, there’s a decision that for the moment it’s still possible to play on those surfaces. I don’t think in Premier League it’s still possible, or in La Liga or in the top leagues.
“I hear in Scotland everybody’s also convinced now it’s not the way to play football but we’re going to go there to get the three points. I said it before also, I don’t care if it’s on that pitch or in the parking lot that we need to play, we’re going to go there to get the three points.”
Later touching on Kemar Roofe: “I cannot put Kemar Roofe in the selection again because of the surface.
“That’s a clear message from my medical staff, that it’s too risky after his injury and amount of injuries so in that way it’s a disadvantage to play on that kind of pitch.”
It wasn’t the last time the Belgian manager would slaughter the Rugby Park surface either, with Clement pointing to the pitch as a big part of the ‘reason’ why his team fell short in October.
“We were not happy with the performance in that way against Kilmarnock,” Clement said following the defeat.
“And I don’t want to hide behind excuses of the kind of pitch. It’s kind of a reason but I won’t want to use that.
“Not before the game, not after the game, so we’re going to keep on working hard to make things better as fast as possible.
“I don’t want to use that as an excuse because it’s part of the story there.
“It’s not an excuse, we should have won, but we will never play the same football as in Malmo at Kilmarnock.
“We should’ve played in a better way to win the game, but to see really good football there on the pitch, you will not see it.
“I don’t want to hide behind that excuse. It’s about winning and we didn’t win.”
Rangers blow as Killie make pitch call
Therefore we imagine Philippe Clement was pretty delighted at the news that Kilmarnock would be ripping up their plastic surface ahead of next season.
This comes with the SPFL voting to outlaw artificial pitches in the Scottish top flight from the beginning of the 26/27 season.
But whilst Kilmarnock were initially supposed to be bringing in a grass surface one year earlier than the rules coming into affect, Rangers have been handed a major blow this week.
That’s because the Scottish Premiership outfit have reportedly kicked back plans to revamp the controversial surface by another year.
That’s according to the Daily Mail, with the news coming amid delays to the construction of Kilmarnock’s new Bowie Park Training Centre.
This effectively means that Rangers face one more season of daunting trips to Rugby Park where Philippe Clement will have to find the answers on the artificial turf.
