WHATEVER happens in the wacky world of Scottish football, one thing you cannot accuse our national game of lacking is talking points.

Chatter of league reconstruction, new League Cup formats and title races have all been hot topics that have fallen by the wayside of late as a mass debate over pitches has, pardon the pun, surfaced.

As many of Scotland’s parks are becoming as bald as a Right Said Fred tribute act, many have suggested more artificial turf is the way to go, although even the prospect of plastic is not fantastic for everyone.

However, Motherwell’s Scott McDonald believes those arguing over what type of grass our football is played on are missing the point, and that we should instead be talking about summer football.

The Australian has long been an advocate of real playing surface but in recent times he has been forced to play on some pretty bare offerings following another wild winter.

And he now believes those in charge should revisit plans to move to a summer league and, quite literally, allow our game to grow.

He said: “Yeah our weather is bad, but if it is that much of a problem we should be looking at other alternatives like summer football.

"I've been saying it all along. It would make it a better spectacle for people to watch, it would be more interesting and you'd get more viewers because you're not competing with the likes of the English Premier League and other leagues at that time.

"To have a Rangers and Celtic game in July when there is no other football, even June, the TV money would go through the roof.

McDonald added: "If we stay as we are in winter football there will always be an argument for it [plastic pitches].

"But if we turn it to summer football we should be able to maintain or pitches well enough, give the extra daylight they need to grow and have better surfaces.

"The other alternative is 50/50 pitches, we have seen a couple of teams do that down south.

"That really needs to be looked into more as well where it is sort of based underneath but it gives you a good base to grow your grass on top.”

While the prospect of summer football is a long way off, McDonald has been full of praise of the ground staff at Fir Park who have helped make the Lanarkshire surface, which over the years has had its fair share of problems, one of the best parks in the country.

The forward acknowledges that may be down to the fact Motherwell’s Under-20s play at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium, and he reckons it should be something more clubs look into if they want to preserve their pitch.

"I've got to admit, that's one of the best pitches in the league at the moment,” said McDonald.

"It plays well. If we want to talk about surfaces we talk about last week [McDiarmid Park] or we talk about when Aberdeen played Celtic and the ball doesn't touch the ground for a couple of minutes at a time.

"There are a lot of pitches in a worse state than ours right now. Our groundsman has done a fantastic job to keep it and maintain it in the nick it is in.

"It's very difficult. We've managed to keep all of our reserve games off it this season which has helped it. I think that's maybe something other teams are probably going to have to look at doing as well.

"It costs money but you either spend it on the pitch or to play less games on it.

"As a spectacle for Scottish football it is not good having games called off every two minutes. It doesn't look professional at all.

"We've got to get that right."