There was no word from the chairman, secretary or the (acting?) chief executive following Saturday's postponement. Instead it fell to Mark McGhee to face the press. The statement, delivered in his usual professional manner, presented a mixture of frustration and mystery. "I want answers," said McGhee. "If there was some sort of failing, I want to know it's been fixed immediately."
Game off
He explained that the boiler which drives the undersoil system was on full power and that the system had been tested. He felt that "It is only an area within the six-yard box that I believe has really put the game off".
It would be useful if the referee (David Somers) could make his conclusions public. The pitch was inspected at 1000 and 1145. If only one small area was affected surely the stadium had the resources available to cause a thaw?
The difficulty in getting to the definitive answer is, unfortunately, buried under the pitch. We know that the emergency work carried out in the spring to puncture the hardened subsoil damaged the heating tubes. The work was successful to the extent that surface water was able to reach the drains and we were able to fulfil our home fixtures but a legacy was left.
John Boyle had suggested that the solution was "ripping it up and starting again" but that did not happen. The huge works involved would take weeks and cost a fortune. The manager let the cat out of the bag at the end of May when he let it be known that the pipes were burst and that the club were to invest in covers. Within a fortnight a new surface was laid and fingers were crossed. It looks like the gamble failed.
Any financial penalty which might be levied will fall far short of the bill which was avoided in the summer. We're past masters at squirming out of our responsibilities for providing playable pitches - no doubt we'll escape again.