Wolves boss Mick McCarthy has expressed his “surprise” at the postponement of their FA Cup tie against Birmingham – as Blues revealed plans to install undersoil heating.
McCarthy and Blues counterpart Alex McLeish both agreed referee Howard Webb was right to call off Saturday’s third round tie due to a frozen pitch.
But the Molineux manager thought Blues’ recent status as a Premier League club would have meant St Andrews had undersoil heating.
Wolves, Albion and Villa have the facility, which will now be installed at a cost of £300,000 in the summer. The Baggies’ tie against Peterborough went ahead five miles from St Andrews
Blues had always previously baulked at the cost, but the embarrassment of Saturday’s call-off has led to a rethink by St Andrews officials.
McCarthy said: “It shouldn’t have been called off. The groundsman can’t do anything about the ice, but I thought all Premier League clubs had to have undersoil heating.
“I was really surprised it was off. Both myself Alex McLeish wanted it on and all the players certainly did. None of us wanted it off, because it gives us a headache with an extra Tuesday game we wouldn’t have had. But there’s nothing we can do about it.”
The postponement came as a complete surprise to McCarthy, who had been led to believe the match wasn’t in any danger.
He said: “I was told there was going to be an inspection but that they fully expected it to be on – it was just the outside of the lines that were hard. When we got there and had a look, there was absolutely no chance.”
McCarthy admitted he had played on worse but insisted the referee made the right decision because the safety of the players was paramount.
The Wolves boss added: “It may have been different back when I played, but I would no way try to get that game on because that pitch was unsafe.”
Blues decided to upgrade with undersoil heating after talks between directors, McLeish and head groundsman Martin Kelly. The big freeze has led to Wolves using Molineux to train on since last Friday, thanks to their undersoil heating.
The Cup game will now be played next Tuesday (7.45pm) with a replay - if needed - to be staged at Molineux a week later.
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