IT’S first thing on Monday morning and Paul Matthew is already hard at work. In fairness, he has been ever since he first walked through the front door at Fir Park little over a year ago. Standing in the shadow of the stadium’s giant South Stand, Matthew consults with a colleague about the day’s work as several pieces of heavy machinery snarl, grunt and crank into action.

A short walk later and the Motherwell groundsman dashes around the vast expanse of bare ground in front of us before we walk down the stadium’s tunnel and into the comfort of a function suite before eventually settling at a table, talking all the while about the journey he and the Premiership club have travelled together during a radical 12 months.

For years, the infamous pitch at Fir Park was synonymous with postponements, embarrassment and, more importantly, financial loss to a club living modestly following a spell in administration in 2002.

It is, therefore, to Matthew’s credit that he has, quite literally, helped Motherwell outgrow this reputation by harvesting one of the best playing surfaces in the country. Given his views on the lack of respect shown towards groundsmen by the game in general, he hopes he can plant the metaphorical seed for Scottish football to follow suit.

“The Motherwell job came up and I knew the hereditary problems involved,” he said. “It’s a difficult pitch and nobody really understands how difficult. Geographically, it’s the second highest pitch in the country, something like 86 metres above sea level. We get hit with all the weather patterns, particularly rain. What you want is a football pitch that drains and we didn’t have that, so, in the last two renovations, the club have supported me in my bid to get the stigma away from our surface.

“We are trying to make Motherwell the model for the rest of the teams in our league that don’t have massive finance. I’m not a money man. I’m just a guy that sees what we do as a club and I look at my counterparts and wonder why they can’t.”

Starting out as a greenkeeper at Windyhill Golf Club in Bearsden, Matthew went on to spend 10 years at Rangers looking after Murray Park and then Ibrox, before English club Wolverhampton Wanderers took him south. It was this time in England that has highlighted just where we are going wrong in Scotland.

He believes a basic degree of respect is lacking as groundsmen up and down the country are left exposed in attempting to protect their beloved pitches. From slack protection rules to dismissive and abusive opposition staff, Matthew insists improvement is needed in making sure issues such as pre-match warm-up routines do not continue to cause problems.

“There is a certain amount of teams in our league that seem hell-bent on dismissing you as an individual for what you are trying to do, and I’m talking about dismissing you in an appalling manner," he claimed.

“I’m out there preparing that surface for their guys to play on. I don’t expect to get the abuse that I receive when I ask an individual to stick to a certain rule. I’m left hung out to dry out there. I need the SPFL delegate with me to enforce the rules and take that away from me.

“The rules need tightened up.

“Down south, it was seamless, the players were regimented, but that comes from the coaching staff. The players are just told what to do.

“If we don’t protect our pitches, our football becomes a backwater.”

For Matthew, the respect must be generated from the very top, starting with our National Stadium. Hampden has come under criticism due to its patchy surface and its emergency returfs ahead of the League Cup final and the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-finals.

“The surface is wrong,” stated Matthew, alluding to the fact it is a full grass pitch and not hybrid such as the turf at Murrayfield. “It’s short-termism and that’s what is killing our game. How can Murrayfield do it and that’s a minority sport?

"Football is our national game, but our national stadium pitch is not up to scratch.

“It’s not ideal [bring in turf in winter] because it may not be what you need or want, but it’s all that’s available. The last-minute decision only comes from a pitch that wasn’t fit for purpose to play that amount of games on.

“If it’s not a hybrid pitch with reinforcements in it, it’s not acceptable. Hampden gets a lot of natural light, but I know and feel sorry for Stevie, their head groundsman. No matter how good a groundsman you are, you are beaten in our country if you don’t put the stepping stones in place.

Matthew is hopeful Motherwell, who now use high-tech TLS lighting rigs to help their pitch, can help inspire other clubs on a similar budget for the greater good.

“At Motherwell, we are on a bit of a journey. We want people to look at our pitch and say ‘That used to be one of the worst, now it’s one of the best. How have they done that?’

“We have to raise the profile of groundsmen in this country and that will have a lovely knock-on effect."