No messing around at Bloomfield Road

LA1 Seasider

Well-known member
Groundsman posted some photos of the pitch being torn up first thing this morning.

Probably looked as good as it’s ever looked last game of the season and that’s after a short timeframe to sort it out last summer and record rainfall this year.

The club clearly want it even better still. It’s something most clubs take for granted but still surprising when you see it at BR !!
 
Groundsman posted some photos of the pitch being torn up first thing this morning.

Probably looked as good as it’s ever looked last game of the season and that’s after a short timeframe to sort it out last summer and record rainfall this year.

The club clearly want it even better still. It’s something most clubs take for granted but still surprising when you see it at BR !!
 
Groundsman posted some photos of the pitch being torn up first thing this morning.

Probably looked as good as it’s ever looked last game of the season and that’s after a short timeframe to sort it out last summer and record rainfall this year.

The club clearly want it even better still. It’s something most clubs take for granted but still surprising when you see it at BR !!
 
The pitch drainage in the South needs to be looked into as it always looks wet. Maybe a blocked drainage system from the field drains that all pitches have.
 
Proud to be a Seasider family.
The owner, the board, the coaches, the players, the community team, the grounds staff and all the workers - they all work tirelessly to make our club a club to be proud of.
They look after their own, as demonstrated by Paul & his wife. We have players attached to young local teams, and we have a big hearted young star in Jordan G - as witnessed on Saturday.
After the vile, torturous previous era, we never dreamed of seeing our club as it is now.
 
Would undersoil heating help the pitch, improved drainage or both perhaps?
The only purpose of undersoil heating is to prevent the pitch freezing up . A lot of teams have it installed but can't afford the running costs so don't turn it on . It was costing £2000 a day even before the recent price increases , and that's without the massive cost of installation . For the number of heavy frosts we have here it's just not worth the outlay .
 
One of them newfangled hybrid pitches is probably the future. I like the natural approach though. Just grass, and a bit if mud never did any harm. Adds a bit of variety to the season! Which team can perform on a variety of surfaces? Like a tennis grand slam.
 
I've no idea what the solution should be, but I hope the Club know what they are doing - can't lay a new pitch now only to rip it up again next May.
 
Waste of time and money. Also, you don't get the best out of the surface for the full season. The surface has been deteriorating for a few months now.
They skim off the top 2inch or so removing the grass, they then plough furrows @8inch or so then resurface with new soil/feed then reseed the whole surface - its a fantastic operation and watched this annual process progress from the office window for quite a few years when I worked at BES/Highbury.

Occasionally extra work was done around the watering system and more remedial work in hard done to spots.

It’s truly remarkable to see that tilled surface gain a green fuzz within days of being seeded and then watch those green shoots of recovery for real. Within a couple of weeks that first light cut is done by hand pushed motor mowers and the next month sees a real green carpet produced. The grass seed they use is so potent it even sprouted out of the artificial grass at the edges.

Certainly opened my eyes as to just how hard the groundstaff worked at FTFC, there was always someone out there mowing or running the compacting relief (big spikey roller thingie) behind a tractor or pushing the portable light system around the goal area.

No finer sight than seeing the pitch markings being laid out on the new surface either as it brings the whole purpose of that green rectangle to life.
 
They skim off the top 2inch or so removing the grass, they then plough furrows @8inch or so then resurface with new soil/feed then reseed the whole surface - its a fantastic operation and watched this annual process progress from the office window for quite a few years when I worked at BES/Highbury.

Occasionally extra work was done around the watering system and more remedial work in hard done to spots.

It’s truly remarkable to see that tilled surface gain a green fuzz within days of being seeded and then watch those green shoots of recovery for real. Within a couple of weeks that first light cut is done by hand pushed motor mowers and the next month sees a real green carpet produced. The grass seed they use is so potent it even sprouted out of the artificial grass at the edges.

Certainly opened my eyes as to just how hard the groundstaff worked at FTFC, there was always someone out there mowing or running the compacting relief (big spikey roller thingie) behind a tractor or pushing the portable light system around the goal area.

No finer sight than seeing the pitch markings being laid out on the new surface either as it brings the whole purpose of that green rectangle to life.
Sounds impressive, but I still think they need something that offers a longer-term solution. There are enough issues to occupy the Club's attention (playing staff, training ground, new east stand for example) without worrying about the pitch every year.
 
Seems weird to take so much care of something only to rip it up and start again every 12 months.

What happens to the old sods of grass? I've not done my lawn at home for years and it's getting a bit of clover and dandelions nowadays so I'd be happy to collect a few rolls of old Bloomfield Road turf!
 
Sounds impressive, but I still think they need something that offers a longer-term solution. There are enough issues to occupy the Club's attention (playing staff, training ground, new east stand for example) without worrying about the pitch every year.
Could you imagine them playing the Embassy World Snooker - circa 1980 of course - on the same tables year in year out, never mind the pint Bill Werbenuik spilt on it two years ago or the fag burns left by Alex Higgins and the foot long taped over tear left by John Virgo.

Pretty much accepted that most clubs take the opportunity to resurface their pitches each year as it allows them to clean up any dips and mounds that might have formed over the course of a year or to address any drainage problems that occur.

I’m sure there are clubs that can’t afford that luxury and simply leave well alone until it becomes such a problem that the surface disintegrates, after all the O’s didn’t invest and we know how that pitch ended up even if it did look reasonable at the start of the season.

The players deserve the best surface available and if you want to play a passing game then you need the good surface to do it on. Its all in the hands of the groundsman though and they are as important member of the team as any.
 
Seems weird to take so much care of something only to rip it up and start again every 12 months.

What happens to the old sods of grass? I've not done my lawn at home for years and it's getting a bit of clover and dandelions nowadays so I'd be happy to collect a few rolls of old Bloomfield Road turf!
I'm assuming its being dumped at Squire Gate, as there has been tractors and trailers coming and going down to SG for the last couple of days.
 
I presume there is still something horribly wrong in what is underneath the pitch the fact it keeps looking s it does by the end of the season?
 
I'm assuming its being dumped at Squire Gate, as there has been tractors and trailers coming and going down to SG for the last couple of days.
I imagine they’re getting ready to redo squires over the summer too. That needs renovating just as much as the Bloomfield Road pitch as it’s had even more wear and tear over the season.
 
I was worried about it around Feb/Mar time, when the wet weather plus the pre match watering left it with virtually standing water and looking patchy.

But have to say, against Brum and Derby it looked really well again. As Wiz says, for the last home game of a season, probably the best it's been in my lifetime.

As an aside, I wonder what the groundsman's view of the practice net and keeper warm up to the right of the North goal is.
 
Sounds impressive, but I still think they need something that offers a longer-term solution. There are enough issues to occupy the Club's attention (playing staff, training ground, new east stand for example) without worrying about the pitch every year.
It’s probably not worth doing anything significant like a hybrid pitch really until the New East stand development is completed.

They didn’t have as long to get the pitch in order last year, due to the Play Offs. So hopefully it will have more time to get established before the season starts, this time around.
 
One of the legacies of fly-tipper KOKO is that they buried some of the old stands under the pitch (SE corner) which I think is still there. Whether that screwed up the drainage system or if the whole lot needed replacing would be a huge expense.
 
I presume there is still something horribly wrong in what is underneath the pitch the fact it keeps looking s it does by the end of the season?
Looked ok to me last Saturday- far far better than the Oyston years. All the top clubs do this so why shouldn’t little old Blackpool!
 
One of the legacies of fly-tipper KOKO is that they buried some of the old stands under the pitch (SE corner) which I think is still there.
Of all the places to bury the old stands, seems strange to have carried it all over to the SE Corner. Wonder if that's where Morty's bar ended up!
 
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