Ally McCoist weighs in on Dundee postponement 'shambles' as Rangers icon makes throwback emails dig

Ibrox legend pulls no punches after latest Dens Park call-off

Rangers hero Ally McCoist has taken aim at Dundee following the postponement of their Scottish Premieship fixture against his former side at Dens Park.

The Ibrox club accused Dundee of "negligence and unprofessionalism" after Wednesday's match was called off for the second time in three weeks due to a waterlogged pitch following a secondary pitch inspection by referee Don Robertson. The situation has left the Scottish Professional Football League unable to fulfil all 33 league fixtures before the scheduled Premiership split this weekend with the match rearranged for next Wednesday, April 17 at 8pm.

And goalscoring legend McCoist has pulled no punches in his assessment of the situation, even bringing up the past with a reference to the 2020 email saga that saw Dundee embroiled in controversy over the vote to decide the season on a points per game basis after the campaign was suspended due to coronavirus.

Dundee groundsmen remove the pitch covers ahead of the postponement of the match against Rangers. (Photo by Ewan Bootman / SNS Group)

Dundee's initial ballot was not received by the SPFL before the deadline due to an apparent email issue before their decisive vote in favour of the motion was eventually cast leading to much consternation among clubs who were against the proposal, including Rangers.

Addressing the postponement on talkSPORT, McCoist said: "It was a shambles. An absolute shambles. I don't know what's going on there at Dundee. Their pitch is waterlogged, they're still not getting their emails and all that stuff – it's some carry on up there."

The SPFL has confirmed that Dundee are under investigation over the number of postponements at Dens Park this season with the Rangers fixture being the fifth time they have suffered a home call-off in the 2023-24 campaign. SPFL chief operating officer Calum Beattie said: “There is currently an ongoing disciplinary process regarding pitch issues at Dens Park and the latest developments will form part of those enquiries.”

Dundee secretary Eric Drysdale argued that climate change and bad luck in home fixtures falling in storms had impacted the situation.

Drysdale told Sky Sports News: “I can understand that people are annoyed and are looking at this as being Dundee’s fault. What I would say is that, from the research that we’ve done in the last few days, we note that this year’s rainfall is 35 per cent higher than the last 10 years’ average.

“That shows the effects that climate change is having on it and it appears we need to urgently do more work on the Dens Park pitch and we are absolutely up for doing that in the summer.”