The Pitch

A short term measure is that the pitch is being Verti drained at regular intervals

https://www.pitchcare.com/forum/view/103457-verti-draining-a-football-pitch

Go to page 10 of this thread. Someone has posted a video

 

The fact that Saturday's game went ahead given the huge recent volume of rain, and the standing water on the pitch on Friday, strongly suggests that the new drainage laid in 2018 is working very well.
The current state of the pitch therefore seems likely to be caused by us skimping on necessary routine maintenance last summer. I can't remember where I read that we did that, but it seems to have been false economy that is now biting us on the bum.

 

Clearly you'll be aware of FRI leases which are common practice in commercial property.
I'd put money on this being the case with VP

 

We did. I can't help thinking that the problem isn't with the infrastructure.

Maybe I'm underthinking it but the pitch gets played on every 7 to 10 days, the drainage has thousands spending on it and the playing surface still has less grass on it than any local park.

I didn't think it was this difficult to grow grass on mud.

 

I doubt that would happen, not merely because our present owner would not want to put more money into the club that is not necessary, but why would Flamingo Land Pension Fund want to sell an asset that gives them such a good return, I believe by law with regards pension funds any transactions must give a better return to the fund, and I think getting a better return than the present deal would be very difficult in this day and age.
I believe there is still 7/8 years to conclude our present agreement and if we did have someone prepared to look into buying it Gordon Gibb/Pension Fund could quote silly figures, was the figure quoted £5m the last time it was brought up, for me Rupp has to bit the bullet and get it done correctly (if it can be) and then the annual upkeep costs, things they/he should have known about when they/he bought the club.

 

We were actually the second placed award which was based on marks given by Referees at each game. I can't exactly remember , it was either my first year on the Board which was season 2009/10 or the year after but I did present the award to Mick Doyle on the pitch at half time in our last home game. Seem to remember Shrewsbury won first prize.
Equally as I recall that was Mick's first season after the previous incumbent, Dave Bedford went to a local golf club, having been in post several years and leaving things in good order.

 

Very interesting. Thank you for the clarification.

 

At Plymouth before the new pitch was installed we had a live TV game, either the FA or the TV company insisted on a company coming in to cover the pitch. We either ended up keeping the covers or rehiring them for the next 12 months or so. They were a nightmare to put on and take off, but it did save a handful of games. There really should be no need for covers with all the modern technology available.

 

There is a market, Rod, and firms that supply such covers. David Dowse and I looked at this in the past and I recall Paula Watson has also looked at it.
The problem is that they are hugely expensive. Most operate on a tent basis with hot air blowers to keep them off the playing surface by being inflated.
When we have looked it has always been for a specific game when weather threatened. I have forgotten the cost so won't guess as some eagle eye on here will be quick to have a more informed opinion, no doubt, but I seem to remember a week's hire was well into five figures, excluding the running cost and purchase was astronomic.

 

Indeed so, they have done work at VP before this project and have also worked at Apperley Bridge on several occasions. Those pitches are then maintained on a daily basis by the school ground staff as part of the cost of us using the facilities there.

 

I posted pics of the pitch in June, bare patches everywhere but even they didn't show what the eye could see nearer to field level. It almost looked like nothing had been done since end of season except maybe a couple of cuts. No surprise it is awful now but I can't see how it's the fault of the contractors who laid the new drains and surface.

 

It isn't really. How much grass is being grown in Manningham already?

 

Spare a thought for groundstaff. February's rainfall comfortably broke the record and the slightly unusual run of NW winds interacting with the big main stand has probably pulled extra down onto the pitch on top of that - and that's coming on the back of a very wet autumn and winter.

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/18275200.bingley-surpasses-west-yorkshire-levels-wettest-february/

 

But the pitch absorbed the standing water, most fans want to know why there is little grass on the playing area after we had the drainage system put in ?.

 

It snowed lightly for 10-15 minutes between 1 and 1:30 and yet there was still bits of surface water at 2:30 in the NW corner. Did nobody see a couple of groundstaff using forks to lift the pitch along the goal line just before kick off? Standing water an hour later says something is not right. It clearly was not draining well in that area. I gather it had been mostly sunny for a few hours before kick off yet the ground was still clearly saturated if a little bit of light snow means they have to fork water away an hour later.

 

A week before the season started and from a distance it looked fine, nice and green and striped, but when you got down close there was bald patches all over and not being an expert you could tell what was going to happen. Grass does not go down the plug hole when a pitch drains does it ?, me thinks just not enough grass from day one. Oh well someone will know the cause of the lack of the green stuff, maybe it's a bit like putting a thin carpet down in your lounge knowing it's not going to last the same as a Wilton, frustrating though wish they would just sort it.

 

The referee must have thought it had drained sufficiently to make a call on a second pitch inspection at 1pm that suggests the drainage was coping.

I posted twice on Friday a couple of associates had past on Friday and passed comment about the standing water in the Bradford End and ITO the game would be postponed that laying water didn't disperse because the pitch was forked it drained away, so the recent new drainage was actually doing it job.

 

McCall wants talks at the end of the season about sorting the pitch out. Good luck with that Stuart