St Johnstone shell out for six-figure upgrade of McDiarmid Park pitches

St Johnstone have spent £100,000 to upgrade their McDiarmid Park pitches.

Work has begun this week on putting down new surfaces in both the main stadium and the training ground.

A succession of Saints managers, from Derek McInnes through to Callum Davidson, have bemoaned the quality of the underfoot conditions their teams have had to play on.

And Davidson even admitted recently that it was a factor in selecting his match-day line-ups and tactics.

The uneven surface became a real issue from the start of December, when a match against Ross County was postponed after the pitch was waterlogged.

“It’s difficult on the pitch because the surface isn’t as good as you’d like it to be,” was Davidson’s assessment in March.

“So sometimes the team selection mirrors that because it is difficult to get it down and run with it.

“We are trying to get the ball forward early and out wide so you have to think of ways to do that when the pitch is like that.

“The staff are working hard on it and hopefully with the nice weather we’ve been getting it will start to improve through to the end of the season.”

From Muller to Melker: All 17 St Johnstone signings rated (well… 16 of them, because one was never seen)