We should all know by now that Paddy is a top groundsman. It would be a disaster to lose him. Clearly the time has come for some investment in fixing the pitch - the easiest solution must be a deecnt cover. That way- rainfall on the pitch can be controlled.
Hardly a disaster. I've no desire to replace Paddy who is a club legend, but there will be several groundsmen out there who could do his job just as well
Hardly a generous comment given he set up a fair percentage of your goals "kandf"!!
As with most things at our club over the last few years, the issue is not with the individual doing the job. The issue is with the investment into the tools that person has to work with. Given the known problems with the pitch, the investment has been woeful.
You're quite right though. Several groundsmen out there could do the job just as well...and the game would still be off!
We should all know by now that Paddy is a top groundsman. It would be a disaster to lose him. Clearly the time has come for some investment in fixing the pitch - the easiest solution must be a deecnt cover. That way- rainfall on the pitch can be controlled.
Hardly a disaster. I've no desire to replace Paddy who is a club legend, but there will be several groundsmen out there who could do his job just as well
Hardly a generous comment given he set up a fair percentage of your goals "kandf"!!
As with most things at our club over the last few years, the issue is not with the individual doing the job. The issue is with the investment into the tools that person has to work with. Given the known problems with the pitch, the investment has been woeful.
You're quite right though. Several groundsmen out there could do the job just as well...and the game would still be off!
If the problem dates back to shortcuts in the building of the North Stand in the mid 2000s, then the problem predates TJ and MS...
As for Paddy, he's 65 now, so I imagine he'll be hanging up his fork soon. I wonder if any other former players have become groundsmen?
Listen people it's pretty simple. The drainage collapsed 2 summers ago. With four concrete stands all around the water has nowhere to go. The bare minimum has been spent on the pitch in the last 3 seasons. We have no undersoil heating. Some parts of the pitch only get a couple of hours sun a day. We have had no cover whatsoever for 3 years. There is no heat going into the pitch so re growth is difficult. It's pretty simple, until money is spent it won't improve. You can blame the groundsmen but Paddy has always produced a great pitch before all this and Nathan his assistant was head groundsmen at the HAC Artillery ground which is lovely. They ain't no fools. They need help and hopefully the new owner might fund things !
How much would it cost to sort the problem out , and would that money be better off spent at a new stadium , with a new pitch , not trying to cause trouble , just be realistic , i guess money spent on the ground is less money spent on players salaries?
How much would it cost to sort the problem out , and would that money be better off spent at a new stadium , with a new pitch , not trying to cause trouble , just be realistic , i guess money spent on the ground is less money spent on players salaries?
couldn't we just take wembley's pitch, they change it every few months and they probably do nothing with the old ones, miles better and at a cheaper price. bish bash bosh.
How much would it cost to sort the problem out , and would that money be better off spent at a new stadium , with a new pitch , not trying to cause trouble , just be realistic , i guess money spent on the ground is less money spent on players salaries?
I see your point, but as you need to pay for the pitch where ever it is I'm going to stick my neck out and say that building stands for 27,000 seats might just swing it to being cheaper to stay at The Valley.
The Dome is interesting in that it switches between two entirely different surfaces. Baseball games are played on an artificial turf field, while football games are held on a grass pitch that slides into and out of the stadium as needed. Some other stadiums that feature sliding pitches include the Veltins-Arena in Germany, GelreDome in the Netherlands, and University of Phoenix Stadium in the United States; however, unlike these three facilities, the Sapporo Dome has a fixed roof.
Conversion from baseball to football begins with the storage of the baseball field's artificial turf. Once finished, a set of lower bowl bleachers rotate from an angled position for baseball to a parallel position. A set of main bowl seats on one end of the dome then retracts, and the football pitch is slid into the stadium. The lower bowl is then rotated 90 degrees. Conversion from football to baseball occurs in reverse. Due to the retraction of seats, the Stadium has a capacity of only 40,476 for baseball games.
Listen people it's pretty simple. The drainage collapsed 2 summers ago. With four concrete stands all around the water has nowhere to go. The bare minimum has been spent on the pitch in the last 3 seasons. We have no undersoil heating. Some parts of the pitch only get a couple of hours sun a day. We have had no cover whatsoever for 3 years. There is no heat going into the pitch so re growth is difficult. It's pretty simple, until money is spent it won't improve. You can blame the groundsmen but Paddy has always produced a great pitch before all this and Nathan his assistant was head groundsmen at the HAC Artillery ground which is lovely. They ain't no fools. They need help and hopefully the new owner might fund things !
Interesting, and sounds fair. How come you are so ITK about the pitch?
From what I saw this morning, there isn't a hope in hell of Wednesday's game going ahead either I'm afraid, so don't get your hopes too high. Not only will we be in the 4th round of the Cup, but the 5th as well at this rate.
Comments
As with most things at our club over the last few years, the issue is not with the individual doing the job. The issue is with the investment into the tools that person has to work with. Given the known problems with the pitch, the investment has been woeful.
You're quite right though. Several groundsmen out there could do the job just as well...and the game would still be off!
As for Paddy, he's 65 now, so I imagine he'll be hanging up his fork soon. I wonder if any other former players have become groundsmen?
Agreed. It is pretty embarassing really. We'd no doubt be giving Oxford stick and calling them tin pot mugs if it was at their place and called off.
Waterlogged pitch.
Sorry @creepyaddick
Am sure its the one we played Argentina on
Maybe it was a good thing we didn't play them on a water logged surface.
The Dome is interesting in that it switches between two entirely different surfaces. Baseball games are played on an artificial turf field, while football games are held on a grass pitch that slides into and out of the stadium as needed. Some other stadiums that feature sliding pitches include the Veltins-Arena in Germany, GelreDome in the Netherlands, and University of Phoenix Stadium in the United States; however, unlike these three facilities, the Sapporo Dome has a fixed roof.
Conversion from baseball to football begins with the storage of the baseball field's artificial turf. Once finished, a set of lower bowl bleachers rotate from an angled position for baseball to a parallel position. A set of main bowl seats on one end of the dome then retracts, and the football pitch is slid into the stadium. The lower bowl is then rotated 90 degrees. Conversion from football to baseball occurs in reverse. Due to the retraction of seats, the Stadium has a capacity of only 40,476 for baseball games.