Livingston: Plastic pitches 'good enough for Fifa, good enough for Scotland' - Holt
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Hibernian and Rangers are among the teams to have lost at Livingston's Tony Macaroni Arena this season
If artificial pitches are good enough for world and European tournaments, they are good enough for Scotland's top flight, says Livingston's Gary Holt.
Some players and managers have expressed unhappiness at their use in the Premiership.
But boss Holt says governing bodies are backing pitches like Livingston's.
"If Fifa and Uefa have looked into them and endorsed them then they are not going to say don't play in them," the Livi manager told BBC Scotland.
"They are playing qualifiers - World Cup qualifiers, European qualifiers - and Champions League games on 3G plastic pitches. I don't hear them moaning about that.
Dutch legend Ruud Gullit claimed earlier this year, external that the Netherlands' obsession with plastic pitches "is destroying our football" and has been a factor in their demise at international level, with six clubs in the Eredivisie playing on fully artificial surfaces.
Three of Scotland's 12 Premiership sides - Kilmarnock, Hamilton and Livingston - play on synthetic surfaces, with Rangers boss Steven Gerrard saying they should not be allowed in elite football after winger Jamie Murphy suffered a knee injury at Rugby Park in August.
'People want to moan about it. It's an excuse'
"People moan about grassroots football and all I hear on the radio and television is there are not enough grassroots pitches," Holt said. "'There are not enough Astroturf pitches and the pitches are a disgrace'.
"In grassroots football, we want to put Astro pitches in and get our kids playing on it, but then we can't put it in for the boys (at professional level) to play on it? They can't have both worlds.
"You either fix grassroots and have it all grass or don't moan about Astro pitches and say there is not enough.
"When it gets to this level, when it's backed by Fifa and Uefa, suddenly we don't like it. It's an excuse."
Hamilton and Kilmarnock were voted the worst pitches to play on in the top flight last season, with Motherwell's Fir Park named the best surface.
But Holt insists artificial pitches represent "progress" in Scotland, where inclement winter weather can often bring postponements.
"Motherwell is a bowling green," he added. "Pitches down south in the top level are beautiful pitches.
"In Scottish football, with the weather we get and the conditions we get and the financial benefits we get with it, why not use it?
"If you are always looking for an excuse you will find one. Don't use it as an excuse. But people want to use it and people want to moan about it. Fine. Fire away - it doesn't bother me."
Pay heed to the players - Wright
St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright reckons players should have a bigger say on the types of surfaces used in the top flight and argues that grass pitches have improved "immensely" in recent years.
"I must say, we went to Hamilton recently, brand new pitch and it was superb," Wright told BBC Scotland. "Will it be like that in six months, nine months, a year's time? I don't know. If they're like that then they're acceptable but, it's not me being a traditionalist or a dinosaur, at the top level, every grass pitch has improved in this league.
"At Livingston, you've got the pellets, then you are coming home from games and you listen to the guys on the radio laughing about the pitch.
"The players voted with their pitch ratings. Will they be listened to? I doubt it very much. I don't think there will be much change. They should be listened to because they are the most important people, they have to play on them."