The pitch

Groundsman shared a tweet the other day which basically said they’re doing the best they can, they’ve got it much improved but they’re counting down the days until the season ends and can carry out some major renovations

Personally thought it looked pretty good considering how bad it has been for the last 20 years or so. The roof of the South Stand and drainage clearly makes it difficult though as it’s obviously very soft and doesn’t get much light at the South end. Still plenty of grass and not a lot of mud except for the GK practice areas.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Groundsman shared a tweet the other day which basically said they’re doing the best they can, they’ve got it much improved but they’re counting down the days until the season ends and can carry out some major renovations
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I thought they did a complete re lay pre season and also now have lights on it all the time.

What more can they do?

I thought the spent a lot on it, its been good and isn't terrible and it is Jan... but its not as good as it could be.
 
JJpool said:
I thought they did a complete re lay pre season and also now have lights on it all the time.

What more can they do?

I thought the spent a lot on it, its been good and isn't terrible and it is Jan... but its not as good as it could be.
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I think the problem must lie with the drainage and the lack of light at the Southern end of the ground. Grow lights/heat lights are brilliant but I suppose they’re not as good as the real thing.

A lot of clubs at this level have hybrid surfaces, undersoil heating and multi million pound surfaces. I think we’re still playing catch up but the club and staff have worked wonders to give us what we currently have
 
Thought it looked decent considering the time of year, in line with most other clubs at our level.

Incidentally, did anyone see Sheff Utd vs Charlton on Big Match Revisited yesterday morning? Now that was a pitch!
 
LA1 Seasider said:
I think the problem must lie with the drainage and the lack of light at the Southern end of the ground. Grow lights/heat lights are brilliant but I suppose they’re not as good as the real thing.

A lot of clubs at this level have hybrid surfaces, undersoil heating and multi million pound surfaces. I think we’re still playing catch up but the club and staff have worked wonders to give us what we currently have
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I though the drainage was why they had it up pre season? Thought that was fixed.
 
tangerine_neil said:
Compared to what we are used to, it looks like a bowling green 😬
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I know that picture will come up soon but that was ridiculously bad.

It's not too bad but a bit bobbly and worn. Given the mild winter and use of lights and big break in games we've had im a little surprised.

I know there was a tweet pre season showing after it was re laid it had grown so fast using some product can't remember what it was called.

Bit everyone was raving about how it would make a difference....
 
JJpool said:
I know that picture will come up soon but that was ridiculously bad.

It's not too bad but a bit bobbly and worn. Given the mild winter and use of lights and big break in games we've had im a little surprised.

I know there was a tweet pre season showing after it was re laid it had grown so fast using some product can't remember what it was called.

Bit everyone was raving about how it would make a difference....
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When you see the pitch at eye level it looks OK.
It looks less so when you see it from the cameras looking down on it.
I think someone, possibly on the match thread, suggested we must train on it. We don't.
The grounds staff work really hard on it during the week, we do have growing lights, but not enough to cover more than a a few square metres at a time.
I must say when I was at Old Trafford a couple of weeks back the pitch did look perfect, and yes I know, they do spend a serious amount of money on it.
I also remember from a few years back when Old Trafford was being extended upwards they were relaying the pitch 2 or 3 times a season. They commissioned a report into the pitch which found that the conditions at pitch level were not conducive to natural growth for long spells of the year. They've clearly solved that problem by artificial means.
 
Must cost a fortune to run those lights and it’s not good for the “green route” we are encouraged to take. I don’t have an answer except to say it’s great compared with what it used to be. When you look at videos of matches in the past and the mud bath of a pitch, it’s not put off the great footballers who’ve played at Bloomfield Road.
 
What amazes me is the number of times the sprinklers are used. Considering the amount of rain we've had in the past weeks. this over-watering must make the surface slick. Another thing causing problems is the unchanging areas for team warm-ups. Why not ask the coaches to vary these coned areas, especially the silly mini warm-up cones at the edge of the pitch before players take the field. Surely these could be done on the Astroturf edges. Rant over!
 
seaside7 said:
Thought it looked decent considering the time of year, in line with most other clubs at our level.

Incidentally, did anyone see Sheff Utd vs Charlton on Big Match Revisited yesterday morning? Now that was a pitch!
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I did,Bob Hatton doing his stuff as usual.
 
Not got a problem with it,you get what you pay for,simple as. We arent at the stage where we can invest millions,but I also recognise investment has been put into the playing surface at Bloomfield Rd and also Squires Gate and I'm so happy that will continue to be the case.I noticed yesterday the ground staff working hard divoting and raking the pitch where the shuttle runs are done,its a far cry from the horrendous situation we had under the previous regime where the playing surface was treated as nothing more than a irritation to getting monies in.
 
Luckily were near the end of Jan and the sun is higher every day.

Looks to have been in better nick a couple years back, this was on Feb 7th so not far off now.

Pitch looking great

Taken from twitter. Don’t think I’ve ever seen the pitch look this good in February. As much moaning as we do about the football, our club is definitely on the up off it
avftt.co.uk
 
When the O’s had the mud sprayed green and we took cabbages in. That was my favourite.
😂

Under soil heating does help the grass grow in winter, but appreciate it’s an expense we can do without at this level.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Groundsman shared a tweet the other day which basically said they’re doing the best they can, they’ve got it much improved but they’re counting down the days until the season ends and can carry out some major renovations

Personally thought it looked pretty good considering how bad it has been for the last 20 years or so. The roof of the South Stand and drainage clearly makes it difficult though as it’s obviously very soft and doesn’t get much light at the South end. Still plenty of grass and not a lot of mud except for the GK practice areas.
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re the South end…why do they insist on watering it especially as they did again at half time…..just Looks like an “accident” waiting to happen and especially agree about the GK practice area.
By the way this is not a criticism of the ground staff as they have done a great job on the pitch considering how bad it use to be but the lack of sun is a big issue re the South especially after probably having to put covers on when it has been frosty which I presume it has been( as it certainly has been here…but then I do live well inland🤔)
 
South Stand '58 said:
What amazes me is the number of times the sprinklers are used. Considering the amount of rain we've had in the past weeks. this over-watering must make the surface slick. Another thing causing problems is the unchanging areas for team warm-ups. Why not ask the coaches to vary these coned areas, especially the silly mini warm-up cones at the edge of the pitch before players take the field. Surely these could be done on the Astroturf edges. Rant over!
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The pitch is a DESSO pitch and needs to be continually watered otherwise the root zone starts to deteriorate and break up. As has been said at eye level it looks good but from the cameras it’s worn badly in a lot of places…. near the East where the away fans are is particularly bad. The pitch is bobbly and cuts up in places but is it much worse than other pitches at this time of year… I don’t think it is but others will have a view.
 
Back in the day our pitch was always excellent - sandy well drained soil was the reason given, opponents loved to play on it compared to their own muddy surfaces - and then suddenly it was appalling. God knows what happened.
 
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Hard to see on low res shots, looks worse in person from higher up.

The last one in particular those lines are where they run or whatever they do pre game.
 
Certainly a 1000 times better than under the unmentionables, but didn't look at it's best on camera yesterday. But we no longer have stan with his B&Q lawnmower and an out of date bottle of poundstore own brand weed killer so pretty sure it will be back to billiard quality soon enough
 
seaside7 said:
Thought it looked decent considering the time of year, in line with most other clubs at our level.

Incidentally, did anyone see Sheff Utd vs Charlton on Big Match Revisited yesterday morning? Now that was a pitch!
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Yes, saw it. Outrageous! Bob Hatton scored for Sheff Utd didn't he, they were relegated with us to Division 4 a few weeks later.
 
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