New Pitch ?

[Guitar Ray]

9 hours ago, blackdog said:

The pitch discussion is getting tedious

It doesn't stop the opposition scoring and it doesn't stop them playing football, we should be used to it playing on it every other week, why is it such a handicap for us ?

It should be the opposition moaning not us, It doesn't seem any worse than seasons gone by, stop looking for excuses and use it our advantage.

Pretty much what the players said at the recent meeting.

[rob1983]

We should be winning most games on our pitch we play on it all the time. The visitors just the once. Can't blame the pitch.

[valefan16]

Their keeper booted one out of play second half and went ballistic kicking the pitch and screaming at it (the Paddock enjoyed that) but when he kicked the bit in frustration loads of material came up!

[ValeForever.]

8 hours ago, sandyford_valiant said:

I agree about the other team have to play on it also and the better sides still manage to play some good stuff on it but i think after playing week in week out on it all over winter and even going back to the Sheff wed game where it was like blackpool beach -  it certainly takes a lot out the legs and does run the risk of injuries. Hopefully the work in summer will put an end to this anyway. One things for sure, unless my minds playing tricks but im certain every single season we seem to have an alarming dip in form at home in the winter months. Coincidence?

Spot on. We nosedive every single season around the same point. It's no coincidence. Goes back to 12/13 during our promotion season under Adams. We had a similar kind of wobble before scrambling over the line.

Same last season. 

It 100% is to do with the pitch. Our lads are playing 23+ games on it every season, the bulk of them before New Year. It will take loads out of their legs & it catches up with you. Tired legs, longer recovery times, more niggles, lower & less energetic performance levels.

I'm absolutely convinced it is linked to our annual dip in form & performance. It has happened across multiple managers & squads now with only one consistent theme, the pitch.

It may not have been so noticeable back in the day as most teams at our level were playing on pudding pitches, which acted as a leveller. In this day & age though, it will be making a big difference, with most sides playing on bowling greens most weeks.

DC knows it. DF knows it. Carol knows it. The challenge being we don't have the cash available to do a full jobby. Let's hope the remedial work over the summer which DC alluded to during his interview last night, helps improve things next season. The pessimistic side of me thinks as long as the clay base is there, no amount of remedial work will really improve things. We'd be better off saving our money for the full jobby. But I'd be very happy to be proved wrong.

[ValeForever.]

44 minutes ago, rob1983 said:

We should be winning most games on our pitch we play on it all the time. The visitors just the once. Can't blame the pitch.

Absolute garbage.

[valefan16]

4 minutes ago, ValeForever. said:

Spot on. We nosedive every single season around the same point. It's no coincidence. Goes back to 12/13 during our promotion season under Adams. We had a similar kind of wobble before scrambling over the line.

Same last season. 

It 100% is to do with the pitch. Our lads are playing 23+ games on it every season, the bulk of them before New Year. It will take loads out of their legs & it catches up with you. Tired legs, longer recovery times, more niggles, lower & less energetic performance levels.

I'm absolutely convinced it is linked to our annual dip in form & performance. It has happened across multiple managers & squads now with only one consistent theme, the pitch.

It may not have been so noticeable back in the day as most teams at our level were playing on pudding pitches, which acted as a leveller. In this day & age though, it will be making a big difference, with most sides playing on bowling greens most weeks.

DC knows it. DF knows it. Carol knows it. The challenge being we don't have the cash available to do a full jobby. Let's hope the remedial work over the summer which DC alluded to during his interview last night, helps improve things next season. The pessimistic side of me thinks as long as the clay base is there, no amount of remedial work will really improve things. We'd be better off saving our money for the full jobby. But I'd be very happy to be proved wrong.

Interesting thought

Last season we had a dip Dec/Jan/Feb

The Promotion season under Micky we went on a dip February into March

The first season in L2 we beat Luton 4-0 end of December then didn't win again until Good Friday

2018/19 we had a horror run from Christmas to beating Mansfield Mid March

Last relegation season we nose dived after Christmas (something which has me nervous this current predicament) 

Behind Closed Doors season we won 3 in 25 between November and March!

They are the ones I can recall of top of my head but does seem to happen most years!

Only time I can somewhat recall us having a decent mid season is the Covid curtailed one!

[ValeForever.]

4 minutes ago, valefan16 said:

Interesting thought

Last season we had a dip Dec/Jan/Feb

The Promotion season under Micky we went on a dip February into March

The first season in L2 we beat Luton 4-0 end of December then didn't win again until Good Friday

2018/19 we had a horror run from Christmas to beating Mansfield Mid March

Last relegation season we nose dived after Christmas (something which has me nervous this current predicament) 

Behind Closed Doors season we won 3 in 25 between November and March!

They are the ones I can recall of top of my head but does seem to happen most years!

Only time I can somewhat recall us having a decent mid season is the Covid curtailed one!

The stats don't lie. Not over such a prolonged period & data range.

It is 100% linked. The pitch is an absolute hindrance to us as a club.

I won't be told any different.

[Valiant62]

It’s not whether the point about the pitch is valid it’s whether, the point having been already made in glorious technicolour is helpful to keep banging on about, the banging on about it takes our ability to rise above the issue out of our hands which is an unhelpful way to approach it.

[Brian Johnson]

56 minutes ago, ValeForever. said:

The stats don't lie. Not over such a prolonged period & data range.

It is 100% linked. The pitch is an absolute hindrance to us as a club.

I won't be told any different.

Liverpool's dip in form this season must be down to the pitch at Anfield

[valefan16]

4 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

Liverpool's dip in form this season must be down to the pitch at Anfield

Think thats more because they've defensively been so reliant on VVD isnt it?

[Brian Johnson]

2 minutes ago, valefan16 said:

Think thats more because they've defensively been so reliant on VVD isnt it?

I prefer Valeforevers argument. Any team that is having a dip is down to the pitch.

Southampton's pitch must be bloody awful

[ValeForever.]

15 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

Liverpool's dip in form this season must be down to the pitch at Anfield

Hi Brian.

Have Liverpool dipped virtually every winter for the past 10 seasons.

Read the original post.

[ValeForever.]

9 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

I prefer Valeforevers argument. Any team that is having a dip is down to the pitch.

Southampton's pitch must be bloody awful

Missing the point of the original post again Brian. But carry on.

[Brian Johnson]

Just now, ValeForever. said:

Missing the point of the original post again Brian. But carry on.

I'm just messing really.

You make a very valid point.

The issue is, no matter what money we spend on it this summer, unless we go full whack on spending that over £1 million pound on a new pitch, then we will have the same problem next season.

It's whats underneath the pitch which I believe causes most of the issues with the pitch

[Fosse69]

Money is not the only factor. How many weeks does it take to replace a clay pitch with a sand based pitch, drains, irrigation, storage tanks. How many seasons to settle in? Lead time for contractors? Alternative ground if unforseens happen?