Fresh from meeting with Turf Business and the IOG’s Jason Booth, Rangers F.C. Manager Mark Warburton has once again reinforced his support of groundsman by stating he would prefer to invest in his pitch over a player.

Speaking to Turf Business TV from the team’s training grounds at Murray Park earlier this month, Warburton emphasised how important a role the pitch at Ibrox is playing in his bid to elevate the team back into the Premier League.

Speaking to the Scottish Daily Record this week, the team manager revealed that the decision to have a high-quality grass pitch is paramount to achieving this goal. When asked if he would be happy to redistribute £1m from his player budget to pitch maintenance, he told the Daily Record: “Yes I would be.

“What about recruitment? Do you think if we have plastic pitches that doesn’t impact on whether a player signs or not? When we are trying to get better players in, do you think he says he wants to play on a plastic pitch? They want to play on a top-quality grass pitch. It impacts recruitment, players, coaches, supporters – it impacts everyone,” Warburton said.

He added that when the Professional Footballers’ Association surveyed players across four divisions, 73 per cent of respondents would take a bad grass pitch over an artificial pitch. 

Jason Booth, National Manager of the Grounds and Natural Turf Improvement Programme at Institute of Groundsmanship, agrees that maintaining the quality of natural pitches in top tier venues is important. However, he also wants to see the natural turf conditions in lower league and local venues improved as well.

“Comments like these from Mark Warburton demonstrate how important quality pitch care really is, and back the need for support being delivered to groundsmen at all levels – not only across Scotland but around the UK,” he said. “We are committed to improving the playing quality of natural pitches for the betterment of the game at every level, and we are confident that in spite of challenges posed by weather conditions and other factors, we will be able to help groundsmen achieve stronger pitches across the country.”