Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin reckons the Scottish top flight should do away with artificial pitches.
The Dons gaffer feels the Premiership has made great strides in recent years and the next move should be going back to grass only surfaces. Goodwin knows his opinion won’t go down well with tonight’s hosts Livingston but he believes it would give us a better overall product in Scotland. The Reds boss said: “I know Davie Martindale and the guys at Kilmarnock won’t be happy with me saying I don’t enjoy the astroturf.
“I know this becomes the headline now but we have made a lot of improvements in our game in Scotland. The introduction of the play-off system and the top half splitting and everything has added real excitement to the game and commercially makes it a better saleable product. Finding the finances for VAR has been good and puts us in line with some of the top European countries and league.
"Next on the agenda needs to be how do we get back to having grass pitches in the Premiership. There is no doubt the game is better when it is on a nice surface.
I do understand Davie Martindale and I heard his comments at the weekend about how it benefits Livingston financially but in the Premiership I don’t think there is any reason why we shouldn’t all have grass parks and that should be a remit. If you are going to enter into the Premiership then you have got to have a surface that qualifies.”
Goodwin knows he will be accused of double standards having previously been manager of Alloa, who also have a synthetic pitch. He said: “Everyone will have a different opinion. There won’t be too many managers or players if you did a survey who would prefer astroturf to grass.
“It is completely different, the ball bounces differently and if the pitch isn’t wet and slick it becomes a very slow, mundane game. When I was at Alloa it was a big thing in the community and it was open to anyone but in the Premiership in years gone by there used to be a rule that you had to fit certain criteria with stands.
“This should be something we look at with grass pitches. It makes our game look better. When you see it on TV with the astroturf, it is completely different and I don’t speak for everyone at the club here, I just speak for myself.”
Goodwin will be hoping his own team will do their talking on the Livingston pitch and they can strengthen their grip on third place. The Irishman said: “After a result like Friday, you want to go and back it up again. We didn’t have long to enjoy our win over Hibs with the Livingston game coming around so quickly.
“We were in on Sunday and we had a quick chat about Friday before looking at Livingston. I’ve never had an easy game there as a player or manager. It’s a difficult venue and the surface isn’t ideal and they are going well.”
Aberdeen’s current rise has been built on their Pittodrie form, while they haven’t had the same success on the road. Kelle Roos is adamant Goodwin’s new-look team are still gelling and will turn their away form around. The keeper said: “It is difficult and if I had the answer I would tell everyone. But I know we do everything right and prepare in the same way. I do think we are still growing a lot as a team.”
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