Ally McCoist has come to gaze on artificial pitches and start to look a little green.
It is an unnatural shade but seems befitting of a coach who regards playing on such surfaces with an innate unease, a feeling which has been aggravated again this week since he will send his Rangers side on to the plastic pitch at Airdrieonians' Excelsior Stadium tomorrow.
Other symptoms brought on by the trip to Lanarkshire have included a mild headache as McCoist considers whether to pitch Emilson Cribari and Dean Shiels into the league match so soon after the pair have recovered from groin and knee injuries, respectively. The latter last week made his first competitive start since March and his manager has concerns that playing on a surface other than grass might undermine the hard yards the midfielder has put in during his rehabilitation.
It is a view which has come to seem increasingly archaic since three out of the 10 SPFL League 1 grounds have each had UEFA-approved artificial surfaces laid, yet one which is also informed by the experience of watching David Templeton left prone on the plastic pitch at Annan last season. The Rangers winger might also be spared from action tomorrow.
"I've made my view on artificial surfaces clear: I'm not a fan of them," said McCoist. "You do get some that are better than others but generally speaking, I'm a believer football should be played on grass.
"The surface will play a big part in who we bring back on Friday and we'll have to take a look at Emilson. He is coming along nicely but I have to take the pitch into account. I'll maybe have a wee chat with Shielsy as well. Let's not forget David [Templeton] also suffered a very serious injury on that kind of pitch down at Annan last year. There are a lot of things to weigh up."
There have been serious considerations to be made by Colin Stewart of late, too, although the prospect of keeping Rangers at bay was not one of them initially. The goalkeeper joined Airdrie in the summer, but only after am ambition to become a coach in Qatar was undone by issues getting a visa.
"It's been a massive turnaround in a year," said Stewart, son of Rangers goalkeeping coach, Jim. "I went out [to Qatar] during Ramadan for five or six weeks but we couldn't get the paperwork sorted out."
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