The pitch

[toyahw]

I really do feel for Carol and Kevin. They have obviously inherited a ground which is a neglected dump. And have been fire fighting just to keep the place open.

Hopefully a plan can be put in place to move the place on, on a commercial basis. Not easy I'm sure. But I am sure they are well aware of this  and are more than capable. 

The place has been neglected for decades. 

[Doha]

‘The Silicon Valley of turf’: how the UK’s pursuit of the perfect pitch changed football | Football | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

 

Quote

 

For the Wembley surface to be in peak condition for the summer, major works have to be completed in winter. On 20 November 2019, in preparation for the Euros, it was time to begin reconstructing the pitch – replacing the top 6,000 tonnes of rootzone. London’s natural soil is clay-heavy, meaning it doesn’t drain well, so Standley brought in sand from Surrey to speed up drainage. Pitch reconstruction is an immense task, which only needs to be carried out about once every eight years. A team of 15 labourers worked in shifts 24 hours a day for three weeks, saving time and money by transporting materials to and from the stadium at night, when there is less traffic.

Once the new turf was laid, the grass took around 11 weeks to mature. (This also involves intertwining a small percentage of artificial grass into the surface, to help stabilise it.)

 

 

I'd think this summer is a bit tight for a total pitch replacement and associated works bearing in mind the RW gig on 4th June. The playoff semi finals were played 18th-23rd May last season...

[PV1973]

The pitch is rubbish by todays standards and it doesn’t matter what we used to play on even though I agree it’s improved massively from those days. But you can tell it’s too heavy, the players are slipping, the turf gives way, the ball bobbles all over the place. We should be trying to replace it if the budget allows. 

[Fosse69]

I wonder what the cost would be to dig out the clay and replace with a modern pitch ?

Say a £million with a years lead time to order the replacement from a specialist firm. Drainage etc. Depends on which quality we need and can afford.

[Fosse69]

Swansea had an elaborate one used for rugby as well. Plastic mesh with pumped drainage that could be reversed to feed air to the grass roots.

[CAVALIER]

Add on to it the Railway roof , new Scoreboard etc and then there’s some cost. I’ve not noticed it being bad recently as the wind has taken over the game 

[The French Connection]

I suspect its a job too far for the Shanahans at the moment.  They are paying off the club purchase from the blue one and investing in the coaching set up, not to mention the team. 

But I wouldn't mind betting they are praying for that big money sale of a player, which could then be reinvested in the pitch. 

[TJHValiant]

9 hours ago, ValeForever. said:

It's a pudding. Unless you've played the game you'll never understand & I dont mean that to sound patronising.

It's the roll of the ball, the bounce, the bobbles, the lack of confidence when a ball is rolled into you, the amount it takes out of your legs. Did you see Wilson smash one out of play first half? Massive bobble just as he put his foot through it. It's not conducive to good free flowing football.

Has held us back IMO for years. Should be right up at the top of the priority list. I've got no doubt it's behind our awful injury record as well.

For those who say "what about the 90s... worked okay then". Yes it did... when every other team was playing on a pudding every week. Its a hindrance to us now for sure. Would love for us to get it sorted & I genuinely think we will.

Fairly heavy hinting from DC tonight in the after match interview. Pub/Park level pitch, he's not far wrong.

Excellent post. This is absolutely the point. Awful pitch, needs replacing, yes it is a priority. 

[SFBT]

7 hours ago, Doha said:

‘The Silicon Valley of turf’: how the UK’s pursuit of the perfect pitch changed football | Football | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

 

 

I'd think this summer is a bit tight for a total pitch replacement and associated works bearing in mind the RW gig on 4th June. The playoff semi finals were played 18th-23rd May last season...

Wow! 😳 Thanks for sharing.

It's a massive area.

Shame there aren't any grants available.

[PVFC764]

3 minutes ago, SFBT said:

Wow! 😳 Thanks for sharing.

It's a massive area.

Shame there aren't any grants available.

I thought in an interview with the owners, there were grants towards the pitch replacement.  But there were other areas that needed the money to meet safety standards and bring areas back to a certain level, so the pitch was deemed nice to have, but put on hold.

[Santa]

4 hours ago, Fosse69 said:

Swansea had an elaborate one used for rugby as well. Plastic mesh with pumped drainage that could be reversed to feed air to the grass roots.

Drainage is only as good as the material it is placed within. Drainage channels in an impermeable material (eg dense clay) won’t work on its own because the water can’t get into the channels.

Short term I don’t know if the clay can be decompacted or aereated in some way to allow drainage to happen to some extent. The problem is the short termism of needing to water the pitch because it’s so slow and also to hold together the sand

[Fosse69]

5 minutes ago, Santa said:

Drainage is only as good as the material it is placed within. Drainage channels in an impermeable material (eg dense clay) won’t work on its own because the water can’t get into the channels.

Short term I don’t know if the clay can be decompacted or aereated in some way to allow drainage to happen to some extent. The problem is the short termism of needing to water the pitch because it’s so slow and also to hold together the sand

From memory the pitch was laid on a 1 metre thick sand base.  Swansea has a high rainfall and the pitch is also used for rugby, Newport is the same and have recently relaid their pitch but I dont expect it was so elaborate.

[Fosse69]

All we need is deep pockets.

FIFA, World Rugby, FIH GAA approved products and installations | SIS Pitches

WWW.SISPITCHES.COM

 

[Santa]

Questions are: how deep would we have to dig? How much would it cost? Is it achievable inside a two month window during the close season?

In terms of cost, I don’t think anyone would want to quote us until they find out just what it is that they’re dealing with. There would probably have to be some sort of test drilling or something. 

[Doha]

The pitch at VP has an area of about 9300 m2.

Sand weighs about 1600kg per m3. Swansea have a 1m deep layer for good drainage. 

Be a few trips to the Jewsons warehouse that will.