Hibs boss Nick Montgomery agrees with Philippe Clement Rangers assessment - 'maybe replay his interview'

Dens Park pitch saga is latest controversy to engulf Scottish football

Hibs manager Nick Montgomery agrees with the assessment of Rangers manager Philippe Clement over the circumstances of the Ibrox club’s postponed match against the Gers and its rescheduling to next week.

Called off for a second time due to a waterlogged Dens Park pitch, the Dundee v Rangers match will be played on Wednesday, four days after the pre-split fixtures are due to be concluded. Clement believes the situation could have been avoided had the match been staged at a neutral venue, with Dundee – should they fail to clinch their top-six place at the expense of Hibs and Motherwell – knowing exactly what they will require when they host the title challengers.

Clement expressed sympathy for both seventh-placed Hibs and eighth-placed Motherwell, who meet at Fir Park on Saturday and are a point and three points respectively behind sixth-placed Dundee. “I understand also that teams like Hibs and Motherwell also feel really bad about this situation,” Clement said on Thursday. “And that could have been avoided last week by saying ‘we take a decision or we play at another venue’.”

Rangers manager Philippe Clement and Hibs boss Nick Montgomery.

Montgomery was asked about the postponement in his pre-match briefing on Friday and he said: “I saw Philippe Clement’s interview and I thought the way he spoke was fantastic. I was sat there nodding my head at everything he said. Maybe replay his interview and that would be my answer! I think the most frustrating thing was that everyone knew it was going to rain in the afternoon and the pitch was already a real doubt so for the supporters and teams, a decision on an alternative venue should have been made earlier in the day and it would have been done and dusted.”

The Dens Park pitch saga is the latest to engulf Scottish football and Montgomery, who has been at Hibs since September, has already seen his fair share of controversies – particularly with VAR. Asked if such incidents are harming the game, Montgomery replied: “It’s not something I want to get drawn into but you don’t want negative stuff about VAR, referees, games called off. It’s a quality league, it’s competitive, it’s physical. There are teams who are getting into Europe and two huge teams who get into the Champions League.

“There are a lot of positives in the league but it’s a shame that there is a lot of negative stuff around. That’s nothing that we can control. The fact that we are having this conversation and that there are no consequences for games getting cancelled at this time of the year when we are going into the split, yeah it’s really hard to understand how it can happen.”

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