Kilmarnock could dump their plastic pitch in the summer

Kilmarnock's pitch came in for criticism after Rangers winger Jamie Murphy suffered knee ligament damage while playing in the Ibrox club's 3-1 Betfred Cup win at Rugby Park in August. Picture: Rob Casey/SNS

The Rugby Park club ripped up their grass pitch and installed a synthetic surface back in 2014 but it has been the subject of criticism on several occasions.

Earlier this season, in August, Rangers manager Steven Gerrard was heavily critical and said “elite football shouldn’t be played on plastic pitches”.

His comments came on the back of Ibrox winger Jamie Murphy suffering knee ligament damage while playing in Rangers’ 3-1 Betfred Cup victory over Killie at Rugby Park. After the game, Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor also waded in on social media, posting “get these pitches gone!!!!!!!” on his Twitter account.

It has emerged in Kilmarnock’s annual accounts that “a feasibility study is under way” to look into replacing the surface but there is no commitment to revert to a grass park. Steve Clarke’s side are able to train on the current pitch, whereas prior to 2014 the club had been hiring facilities in Glasgow.

Elsewhere in the accounts, Killie reported a trading loss of £181,174 for the year ending 30 May, 2018. The previous year they posted a profit of £967,672, but most of that was down to income from transfer fees, in particular the sale of Souleymane Coulibaly to Al Ahly.

Turnover was £5.1 million, similar to the figure from the previous year.