Shadow Play

I’m sorry but that is subtly different to what you initially said. You said “we have the benefit of not being forced to say it’s playable by our employers.” You also said “Anyone with a brain can see that massive sandpit is a massive hazard to the players” and in a separate post you stated ”it’s genuinely a disgrace that it’s been allowed. That’s a major hazard for players who are absolutely (not maybe, not possibly but absolutely) going over ankles (plural) on that part of the pitch. All this was said by yourself after seeing a short clip and / or photos on social media. As opposed to the referee that was on the pitch and carrying out a thorough inspection. I was at the game and the ball appeared to run true and not one player appeared to indicate anything untoward with any section of the pitch. Do you still stand by what you said pre match or do you think you went a fair bit over the top with your assessment?

Outstanding work by Costelloe in the lead up to the goal. @RandomGuy. I thought I’d tag you in seeing as you are apparently so interested in what is taking place at Dens today.

Just to place you on record are you saying that the referee is being forced by his employer to declare a pitch that is not playable (and therefore not safe) playable? Other than observing the pitch on X I don’t suppose you have some firm evidence to back your conspiracy theory? Will definitely be interesting if there are any insurance claims should a player become injured.

It’s now half an hour after 1pm and you appear to have evaporated from this thread like, well, water from a waterlogged pitch.

Not as major a hazard for Mellon as it was the last time St Johnstone came to Dens. Absolutely amazes me that people think that after watching a clip on X they are better placed than a qualified match official to deem whether the pitch should be declared playable or not.

Exactly Dr M. It never ceases to amaze me how people interpret written English. @casinobay would you be kind enough to explain to us how you managed to interpret Dundee’s factually correct tweet as blaming the referee?

Patience my friend. Let’s just wait and see how this all develops. It will be nothing, if not interesting.

You’ve already stated the that if Dundee don’t “shell out a fortune” on their pitch for next season the SPFL will rule it unplayable. I think neither thing will happen. Dundee will not spend big money and the pitch will not be ruled unplayable. We will certainly find out soon enough. I guess we will both just have to be a little patient to see who has assessed the situation correctly.

Dundee’s circumstances are arguably slightly different from Motherwell in so much as the board are stating their intention is to move from Dens in the near future. IF the building of the new stadium does proceed the move could well be sooner rather than later as it appears the board’s intention is to sell Dens and seek a ground share during the construction period. It may be the case that league officials will see the bigger picture and welcome such a significant investment being made by a Scottish club. Surely a new stadium such as that proposed by Dundee is good for the image of the Scottish game as a whole and potentially outweighs any short term pain? I’m sure it’s not the case but some of the posts I’ve seen appear to imply (I’m not suggesting yourself) that they would like to see Dundee being forced to spend £X million (the higher the amount the better) improving the pitch and therefore significantly hindering any potential move.

Good find Dr M. I think the dial does have very faint sub dials and there does appear to be a pusher each side of the crown. Also, chronos are often a little larger than a simple three hand watch. I’m now not sure what make and model of watch it is though. @Bigmouth Strikes Again any ideas?

I’m pretty sure it is an Omega AT Doc has. Doc’s looks a little bigger so I’m wondering if Doc has a chrono version?

What you are now saying is different from you’re initial assertion, and I quote “I still think Dens is going to be ruled unusable by the SPFL for next season unless you shell out a fortune to try and get it sorted as quickly as possible.” I’m not trying to be pedantic but I can only comment on what you post.

I don’t think that will be the case but I guess we can revisit that later this year and see who is correct.

The drains from my neighbour’s house flow eastwards, thereafter southwards. The drains from my house flow westwards, southwards, westwards again and thereafter southwards. I know this because of the issues I had when I first moved into my house. My neighbour’s house is approximately 20 - 25 metres from my house. I don’t know the specifics of the drains around Dens but from my experience I don’t think it can be assumed that buildings within the relatively short distance of 200 yards share the same drains.

We’re keeping that under wraps…

The pitch was passed as playable yesterday. I don’t think you can ask any club to predict how the pitch may or may not hold up with if the rainfall that is being forecast actually occurs. Have you any precedents regarding a pitch being passed as playable but a club declaring they think the pitch will be unplayable because of anticipated rain in the future? There may well be a precedent for this, I am simply unaware of one.

I think there is a fair bit of PR and damage reduction going on here. By doing the pitch inspection today if the game is called off on Saturday Dundee can point to the fact that even with the rain covers on they could not prevent the pitch being unplayable. In other words not much more could reasonably be done (at least at this stage in the season). That may buy the club a bit of favour with those in charge of the league.

Brilliant. John Kettley is the weatherman we need to speak to. Actually was there not a song from the late 80s about him and Michael Fish?

Good of you to add another fact to this thread. Thank you.

Valid points well made. Apparently this is the 8th wettest winter in the UK since records began. A mate owns a large number of properties and he was saying that several of the chimneys of the tenements are soaked through and they are just not getting a chance to dry out. He’s owned the effected flats for quite a number of years and he can’t recall anything as bad as this winter.

I think the problem with covering just some areas is that once the rain lands on the already saturated uncovered surface of a pitch the water doesn’t just sink vertically it will flow both above and below the surface towards ever so slightly lower lying area of the pitch. Meaning the soaked areas may / will likely be the the lowest level and that is why water is pooling there. Also covering up a relatively large area will lead to a large amount of rainfall running off the edges of the cover and I don’t think it’s practical to make sure all the edges are well off the pitch. I understand the club don’t want to spend money on Dens if the intention is to move to a new stadium but I wonder if there is some sort of rain protection system that can cover a whole pitch? A system that could simply be moved to any new stadium if the time ever comes for that. I know what I’m trying to say above. Not sure if it makes any sense the way I’ve written it though.

I can understand both arguments regarding the pricing of tickets. On the one hand it does appear to be quite a jump for some categories of season ticket holders in particular. On the other hand good players don’t come cheap and we aren’t exactly getting huge crowds. Definitely a balancing act required. If these are the prices I just hope everything possible is done to keep the price of a ticket as low as possible for any home ties in the cup (I understand both sides in any cup tie have to agree to this).

Now my wife says she wants me to leave because she’s fed up of all my South American animal puns. I said “OK, Alpaca my bags.”

I think my wife if overreacting but since I’ve retired she’s been noticing more of my dirty habits. When she said she was going to leave me I just about choked on my toenails. ETA taken from loganlisle on Insta. Well worth following as the guy is funny - unlike me.

Well said. Unless an official display on the pitch pre match etc this pyrotechnics nonsense has to stop. BBC stating that 5 people were arrested as a result of using pyrotechnics at McDiarmid on Saturday. I can’t see how many people were arrested for having pyrotechnics at the recent Dundee v Rangers match. I would imagine it would be at least treble that……….surely?