There was an enormous amount of frustration after Aberdeen’s game against Dundee at Dens Park was postponed only 50 minutes before kick-off.
Whenever possible, these decisions need to be made early in the morning to prevent supporters making needless journeys.
The weather was horrendous around Aberdeen on Saturday and there must be more consideration for supporters who are travelling in those conditions.
That was why Ross County arranged an early inspection. They knew a lot of Hibernian supporters would be travelling up to Dingwall for the game.
I don’t understand why the decision on the Aberdeen game wasn’t made earlier in the morning at 9am or 10am.
I certainly don’t understand why a pitch inspection, at least as a precaution, wasn’t arranged for Saturday morning if there was any doubt over the fixture.
The postponement will be a financial blow for Dundee because when Aberdeen go back there on a Tuesday or Wednesday night in the rearranged game they won’t be bringing as many fans as the 3,500 who travelled down on Saturday.
Dundee were hoping the wet weather would clear, as forecasted, by kick-off and the pitch would be in a playable condition by the time 3pm came around.
But the decision not to call for an earlier pitch inspection has inconvenienced the fans because the game could have been called off before they started to travel to Dundee.
There is also an argument that the kick-off could have been delayed to give the groundstaff a bit more time to clear the water off the surface.
Dundee ended up training on the pitch on Saturday afternoon which shows they felt it was playable.
The only problem with delaying kick-off is if the weather changes and the rain starts lashing down and it becomes even worse.
We don’t want a game turning into a farce because of the conditions.
An early call on this game could have avoided a lot of the issues that transpired on Saturday afternoon and communication has to be better between all involved.
I have been in situations like that in the past. I remember when I was the assistant manager at Caley Thistle and we were playing Raith Rovers.
Peter Hetherston was the Raith manager at the time. I was at our ground around 8am on the Saturday morning and there were six or seven inches of snow on the pitch.
There was only myself and a couple of other people at the ground at the time. Peter was phoning me to ask if I honestly felt the game would be on as they wanted to know whether to start travelling or not.
I said for the game to go ahead we would need a lot of people to shovel the snow off the pitch. I didn’t think the game would go ahead but I couldn’t tell him not to travel just in case it was on.
The game did eventually get called off but it was a horrible situation.
Dundee released a statement after Saturday’s postponement where they highlighted that the match officials didn’t turn up until 1.40pm and they were disappointed by the lack of consultation with Police Scotland, club officials, the SPFL delegate and the match commander before the postponement was announced.
It seems there was a real breakdown in communication.
The normal protocol if the weather is an issue is for the secretary of the home club to look at the forecast and put a call in to the Scottish FA to let them know a referee may be required on Saturday morning to check the pitch is OK.
Normally a local referee would have a look at the pitch and check the surface is playable.
Dundee made the decision that they didn’t think a pitch inspection would be required but when the officials turned up it would have been clear that there was an issue with the amount of rain that had fallen ahead of the game.
I imagine the officials were surprised when they turned up and an inspection hadn’t been arranged for earlier in the day.
Dundee were obviously hoping the weather would clear but unfortunately there were areas of the pitch that were causing concern for the officials and they made the decision to postpone the game on the basis of player safety.
I feel sorry for the fans, especially those who travelled through difficult conditions to get to Dundee, which is why early decisions on postponements are always preferable.
Miovski or Shankland?
Meanwhile, there has been plenty of debate recently over who is the better striker – Bojan Miovski or Lawrence Shankland.
Miovski has been linked with a move to Celtic while Shankland has been touted for Rangers.
Hearts striker Shankland, at 28, is four years older than Miovski so the Aberdeen player should have more scope for development as well as the potential to be sold on at a larger profit down the line.
They have both been in excellent form this season but I don’t think they are overly similar players.
Technically, I would say Shankland is the superior player but Miovski is better at getting into goalscoring positions.
If you put Miovski into a side who are attacking all the time, such as Celtic, then he would score a lot of goals.
They both have their strengths and weaknesses but they are two players who know where the back of the net is.
If I was a manager of Celtic or Rangers I would go for Miovski out of the two of them but I certainly don’t want him to leave Aberdeen so hopefully they go for Shankland instead!
Recruitment is key
Finally, Caley Thistle put on a good display in their 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle and were unlucky not to take all three points.
They seem to be heading in a good direction under Duncan Ferguson so hopefully he can add to his squad in January.
He has already been in touch with his former club Everton as he looks for potential signings.
One great signing could make all the difference.
They could do with another central midfielder and another striker si hopefully Duncan can put his network of contacts in England to good use.
