Most liked posts in thread: The Pitch…..what can be done about it?

Just another frustrating interview from a player on his way out.
Perhaps Mr Smallwood would like to tell us how he intends to beat the first man from a corner that his something he could put right and leave the pitch condition to those who make a living in that profession.

 

To be fair WW and BCB. kadima might already have irons in the fire for a mini-tour of Europe or the States, just to save our field.

 

"What will be, will be...."

What an arrogant bastard he really is

 

We only put very minimal covers on for rain as it has very little benefit, also when the rain hits the covers where is it going to go? There's only so much you can do about frost without spending huge money on undersoil heating. The frost covers go down to around -4 and when we had the Doncaster game postponed the temperature at pitch level was -7/8. You can have the best frost covers in the world but if you have an evening game when the temperature drops below freezing like it did for the Liverpool game then there's nothing you can do about it. It seems that the Liverpool and Stockport games did the irreversible damage to the pitch which was made worse by the the issues in the summer with the delayed pitch work and broken sprinkler. As long as there are no issues with this like there wasn't for the last few summers there's no reason our pitch can't look like it did at the end of the last few season where it looked perfectly fine. This is the pitch for the last home game in the last 3 seasons. Currently this is a 1 off season since the major pitch work taken out, if, this time next year the pitch is looking like it is now then it's a different story.

 

Thank you, however @wetherbywhaler beat you to it with a fuller explanation! The bane of my life is shortened titles and in this case hides its stature in world by doing so. I wonder how many of the 13,000 + fans who received the email be in similar ignorance? It is practice in well written grammar to insert the full title then the shortened version in brackets, then you can use the shortened version later in the email, letter or report, and everybody is then fully informed.

 

Asking players not to plough 2 trenches with knee slides, in the unlikely event of scoring a goal, could help
Or at least not make things worse.

 

That’s got to be City v Wimbledon at Odsal Dave. Match eventually abandoned.

 

Yep. I was there - wasn’t it a night game? Horrible weather where the water came across from the racetrack touchline towards the centre of the pitch.

 

Ah yes another crook feathering his own nest, and yet it’s legal. Newark is about as deprived as St John’s Wood .

 

The other half said exactly the same. However, he also said that the groundsman had to get games on and with no grass they had to roll it hard to provide a playing surface. Nevertheless the damage done to the pitch with frost and torrential rain is the real culprit. Not sure there is anything they can do until we can start the summer work.

 

As I said in a previous post we spent a lot of money a few years ago on the pitch and it was perfect for a couple of seasons. Surely there should be a comeback on the company who did the work after its complete collapse

 

Maybe like most things at the club the pitch is looked after on the cheap. If we have not followed the company's maintenance programme they will not be liable for its unplayable state

 

When you get Premier league money and 100 million for getting relegated you can easily afford things like that.

 

Richie Smallwood has come out and blasted the pitch as being the worst in the EFL and its not good enough having to play on it every week.

Well done Richie for not holding back. Its time someone came out and said it.

It's not good enough for Sunday league football.

Does Rupp care?, probably not

 

I have just read the Smallwood interview and to be fair to him he said it was a small part of playing football. He said the ball didn’t bounce. However, what did alarm me was the psychological impact it appears to have on the players ie planning. Getting ready for the match as they set off from home. Not knowing whether they would be playing or not! We are the same a lot of fans just gave up on attending as they didn’t know whether to go to the expense of travelling and investing in the emotion of wanting the team to win, and all the other stuff that goes through your head before a match. You only have to look at the pitch to be worried about it playing up. No matter how much we try to excuse it away, we can’t, the grounds staff have done an incredible job, but they are not miracle workers. They are providing the best playing surface they can given the cards they have been dealt. However, I did notice the pitch did look greener, so the grass has started to grow.

We just have to find a solution to our pitch problems, that can only be done by experts, we cannot stop the rain, but we can mitigate against it damaging the pitch. Starting with a full investigation into the problems that have occurred and suggestions on how to solve the problem. No half measures. Plus you could make any investigation report available to fans, now wouldn’t that be novel?

 

Genuinely, I think what Smallwood has said is just one part of the psychological make-up of the players when playing at home. When we're playing a big team/higher division (Wrexham/Wycombe/Stockport) they just focus on getting up for that challenge and tend to perform alright. When it's a little/poor team (FGR/Donny etc.) they assume they are going to win, mentally slack-off, and then things like the pitch etc. creep into their thoughts.

If GA really wants to fix the issue of playing at home I suggest he hires a sports psychologist to work with the players as clearly something in the players' mentality isn't right.

 

I agree it has been going on for years. So what exactly is the problem? If it affects different players and different teams, what the he’ll is it? I also agree we need a sports psychologist and fast!

Allowing teams without our resources come to VP and waltz off with 3 points is a something we have been doing for years. Why is that?