Rangers would play 'on Mars' to get match against Dundee fulfilled

Rangers manager Philippe Clement says an alternative venue has to be ready to host their twice-postponed match against Dundee if needed – and his team would play “on Mars” if it gave them the chance to earn three points.

Clement was speaking a day after their Premiership match was called off for the second time because of the state of the pitch at Dens Park. Rangers accused Dundee of being unprofessional in a public statement that was also critical of the SPFL’s handling of the situation. The game has now been rescheduled for next Wednesday night, potentially delaying confirmation of the post-split fixtures.

The Rangers boss revealed that he expects a final decision to be made a day ahead of the game, and that a contingency should be in place to move the match so it goes ahead regardless of the weather or the state of the pitch in Dundee.

“The last thing I heard was that we will know on Tuesday at 12pm at the latest where we will play on Wednesday,” Clement said.

“If not Dundee it will need to be somewhere else, but we must know before we travel on Tuesday.

“It is a disadvantage (behind closed doors) but it is what it is, we have to adapt, like when it was Covid and we didn’t like that.

“But our mindset is whatever decisions are made, we go to win games. So no excuses around that.

“If that is the decision, we will play behind closed doors. If they ask us to play on Mars, we go to Mars, we take a flight to win the three points. That is the mindset of me and all my players.”

The Belgian said that Rangers had been prepared to play the match on Thursday, just three days before they face Ross County in the Premiership, but that their proposal had been rejected. He remains unhappy with Dundee and says that the situation is embarrassing for Scottish football.

“The situation was clear a few weeks ago,” Clement said. “It’s already a long-term problem, apparently.

“For us it’s already the second time it’s been postponed and it’s five games this season. So that’s 30% of their home games postponed this season.

“I don’t remember anywhere in Europe in the last 30 years of football that that happened. So there’s a big problem.

“If you start to speak about climate change and things like that, then you don’t realise the problem yet. So that’s one point.

“It’s not pointed at the manager of Dundee or the players because they are the victims also of the situation. I want to make that really clear.

“They are having a really good season and will be frustrated for sure about that.

“But it’s not a normal situation that you play in the Premiership, the best league. I think there was a really good advertisement for the league with the Old Firm game. There were so many people watching it and I hear it was a record and everyone was really positive about the game, the intensity and all those things.

“So a really positive thing for Scottish football and then three days later, this is really bad for the image of Scottish football. And it could have been avoided by playing at another venue. Everybody knew what the situation is and was.

“It’s pointed at the club. They didn’t do the right things to have a decent football field and it happened already several times this season.

“That needs to be solved so that you can play the game and I understand also that Hibs and Motherwell also feel really bad about this situation.

“It could have been avoided last week by saying that we need to take a decision earlier or we play at another venue.”