I AM sure we all have had problems with our landlords at one stage or another during our life.

They take our rent for granted and complain when it's overdue, but when we have an issue, it takes them an eternity to do anything about it. And that's how it must feel like for Melbourne Victory in recent times.

On Friday night with both teams having the opportunity to go top of the table, albeit very briefly, it was always going to be a tight and tense tussle. Anyway we rock up on Friday night and it looks like our landlord had held a big party whilst we were away for a few days and left the place in a mess. Oh that's right, they did – some party called 'Sensation'.

So what had promised to be an entertaining spectacle was somewhat ruined by the condition of the playing surface and it was only when I arrived at the ground that I discovered that there had been every chance that the game may not have gone ahead at all – completely throwing my Friday night plans into disarray.

Purely and simply, the state of the pitch was a disgrace and the blame lies squarely at the feet of Telstra Dome authorities. The scheduling of a New Year's dance party only two days before a sporting event would have to be one of the worst decisions in a long list made by the stadium's authorities over its brief history.

And if I were part of the Melbourne Victory officialdom I would seriously consider asking for our money back for the night considering that this is the second time this season that the pitch has been left in poor condition for an important clash. The other case being Andre Rieu and his fake castle leaving a strip of dead grass along the edge of the pitch for the Central Coast clash.

Telstra Dome authorities have been on the back foot since the conclusion of Friday night's match and their pathetic excuse that the both Melbourne Victory and FFA knew that the event was going on is simply unacceptable.

With the A-League fixtures being released before the scheduling of Sensation, the stadium authorities should have known from previous history that the pitch would not recover.

They need to be reminded that the without Melbourne Victory and the A-League, their stadium would remain pretty much empty for most of the spring and summer months and will be once the new rectangular stadium is complete.

One fact about the whole affair that astonishes me is that only two hours before the scheduled kickoff, Telstra Dome staff were down on their hands and knees trying to clear the playing arena of shards of broken glass, plastic and other rubbish. Only two hours before kickoff! What were they doing for the other thirty or so hours after the last of the white-wearing patrons had gone home? I have had some massive house parties in my time and it never took me that long to get around to cleaning up.

This smacks of complete incompetence on behalf of Telstra Dome considering they have constantly reminded us all Melbourne Victory and FFA knew about the New Year's Eve event. Maybe in all their reminders to other parties they had forgotten themselves they had some work to do. Or maybe somebody had a really good night on Wednesday night.

It will be interesting to see how the pitch pulls up for the match against Adelaide tonight. I for one can't see that much improvement occurring and again may very well have an impact on the performances of both teams in a match that could very well decide who takes out the minor premiership. Maybe I should just be hoping for the same result as Friday night, a win for my team.

Neil would like to state for the record that he did not attend Sensation on New Year's Eve. The fact that everyone had to wear white to the event freaked him out a little.