I WAS interested to see Steven Gerrard’s comments after his Rangers side beat Kilmarnock in Scotland that artificial pitches have no place in elite sport.

His comments came after he lost winger Jamie Murphy to a knee injury on the plastic pitch at Rugby Park, with the player appearing to twist his knee in the game.

No manager wants to lose a player to a pitch injury and Gerrard will be the same.

Look, if we could afford a perfect grass pitch then we’d all want to play on a perfect grass pitch. The standard in our league, artificial pitches makes for better games and a better league.

It means that games that should be off can be played, and allows for the programme of games to be covered week in, week out.

After we’d had downpours, it means we can still play and again even in the bad weather.

I understand where he’s coming from but not everyone can afford to play on top-class pitches and playing surfaces like bowling greens.

Also, there’s a sustainability issue for clubs at our level.

An artificial pitch has to be done for us because the clubs can hire them out in the week to make the money back, plus the first team, the reserves, the Academy – they all play on it.

You can see at the Venue sometimes that we play on the pitch and then members of the community are on it only a few hours later. It's a vital resource for some clubs.

But trust me, we'd all play on a grass pitch in an ideal world.