BBC SPORT | Football | CIS Ins Cup | McLeish condemns Hampden

Rangers manager Alex McLeish has criticised the state of the Hampden Park pitch for Sunday's CIS Insurance Cup final.

Scotland's national stadium is to host the Champions League final at the end of the season and work is scheduled to improve the rutted surface.

But McLeish insisted that it should have been ready for Sunday's showpiece as Rangers struggled in the first half before defeating First Division underdogs Ayr United 4-0.

"The pitch is shocking," he said. "We can't dress things up.

The Hampden pitch cuts up during Sunday's final
Hampden's pitch was in a poor condition
"For a final of a major competition, it is not good enough.

"I don't mean that as an excuse as we knew it was poor beforehand and I know it is going to be ready for the Champions League.

"But it should be ready for a domestic final."

Both teams are back at Hampden this coming weekend for Scottish Cup semi-finals, with Rangers playing Partick Thistle and Ayr taking on Celtic.

But Ayr boss Gordon Dalziel had no complaints about the pitch.

"I would have played in the car park," he said.

"It is a final and I am happy to be here in the sense that I have brought a wee club like Ayr United, a seaside town, a provincial club, to Hampden and we're coming back next week for a semi-final.

"So I am not going to moan and bitch about a park."

Hampden Park managing director David Kells is convinced the national stadium's pitch will be in top condition for the Tennent's Scottish Cup and Champions League finals.

He accepted that the present surface was poor but explained that bad weather prevented the pitch from being relaid before the Scottish Cup semi-finals.