THE row over Kilmarnock’s artificial surface escalated last night when Mark Warburton firmly blamed it for Martyn Waghorn’s knee injury which has possibly ended Rangers’ top goalscorer’s season.

But Lee Clark, the recently installed manager at Rugby Park, was adamant playing on this pitch was not dangerous, a point backed by the fact that every English Premier League club has to have them at their academies.

Warburton, who ordinarily is reluctant of making any sort of public criticism, clearly suggested Waghorn would not be out for so long had Tuesday night’s Scottish Cup tie in Ayrshire been played on grass.

“We’re quite adamant as a club, from our medical department and from ourselves as coaches reviewing the injury, that the nature of Martyn’s injury would not be the same if he’d been playing on grass,” said Warburton. “It’s as simple as that.

“Our player came off that pitch with lacerations and bruising. Immediately we compared it to how it would look if you’d fallen over in the playground; that’s how it looked. He had blood, bruising and then the scan shows any problems inside the knee.

“There is no doubt in our mind, there is no blame attached, we are just making the point, the nature of the surface changed the type of injury our player suffered. That’s our opinion and you won’t change it.

“I can’t possibly answer how long he’d have been had the injury been picked up on grass. But you immediately saw bruising and lacerations on his knee, that wouldn’t have happened on grass.”

For his part, Clark, who enjoys a good relationship with the Rangers manager, but could not agree that the astroturf pitches of today cause injuries to players.

“Injuries happen in football matches whether we play on top quality 3G synthetic pitches or grass; that’s the nature of the game,” said the new Kilmarnock manager.

“We are compliant with all the rules and regulations regarding the standard. Down south, to get your category one and two academy status, you have to have one of these surfaces and that’s for some of the best young players in the world.

“Even the biggest clubs have to have the surfaces for the young players to train on, so if they were that dangerous they would not put them in that sort of environment.

“My youngster (Bobby) at Newcastle United, who is in the academy, trains on it four times a week and if they were that dangerous then I’m not sure they would be putting young lives and careers in jeopardy.”

However, Warburton will never be convinced and claimed to have the statistics to back up his view.

He said: “There was a recent PFA survey, interviewing something like 705 players, and 75 per cent said they’d rather play on a deteriorating grass surface.

“The key word for me there is deteriorating, they’d rather play on a poor grass pitch than on plastic. We had a meeting and I asked our players, I knew they’d be asked their thoughts. Straight away our captain said it doesn’t matter what we play on, whatever we play on we’ll deal with it. That, of course, is the right answer.

“But he also said that as pros they want to play on grass all day long. Up until Christmas, I don’t think Kilmarnock wanted to train on their pitch. Why? Because there’s s stiffness, a soreness and you suffer more impact and injuries.

“Rob Kiernan and Danny Wilson, after the Falkirk game, didn’t train for three days with infected lacerations. It was quite horrific and they’re still scarred now. That is why the players don’t want plastic pitches.”

Money, or the lack of, is the reason so many clubs favour playing on an artificial surface and Warburton himself quoted a figure of £1million to lay down and a pitch that would see a club through an entire season.

Asked whether he would be happy if that sum came out of his budget, Warburton said: “Yes I would be. What about recruitment? Do you think if we have plastic pitches, do you not think that impacts whether the 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, supporters, players, coaches, so it impacts everyone. You have to look at the bigger picture.

“It's not about Kilmarnock on the Tuesday night and they are entitled to their opinion and we have given our opinion very clearly, there's no disrespect in any way. There's a bigger picture and that is that everyone benefits at the highest level with a better quality of playing surface."

…