The Valley Pitch

lancashire lad

The pitch was rather poor for the Pompey game, although no excuse for our loss. However if the team is to play to its strengths it would be better on a good pitch similar to one at Rochdale who have recently relaid their pitch. With RD the Valley owner I guess that there is little chance of any improvements pitch side.

Anyone ITK have any info on this as it could be crucial to our home form.

Covered End

If the frost covers weren't put down yesterday, next Saturday's game will be in doubt, if the forecast is correct.

Rothko

The weather towards the end of the week looks terrible, doubt the game will be on

Covered End

Answering the original question I think TS can fully upgrade the pitch as he chooses as long as he is paying. 
Why would RD care if someone else is paying to improve his property? 

Rothko

Without undersoil heating there is no chance, doubt the covers will work at those temperatures

RedChaser

Lancashire lad said:

The pitch was rather poor for the Pompey game, although no excuse for our loss. However if the team is to play to its strengths it would be better on a good pitch similar to one at Rochdale who have recently relaid their pitch. With RD the Valley owner I guess that there is little chance of any improvements pitch side.

Anyone ITK have any info on this as it could be crucial to our home form.

I assume it’s a fully repairing lease given the length of it Lancs,  so it’s down to TS ultimately to keep it up to spec these days.

Stig

Covered End said:

If the frost covers weren't put down yesterday, next Saturday's game will be in doubt, if the forecast is correct.

Do we have proper frost covers? There used to be an inflatable plastic bubble. That quickly became an uninflatable plastic sheet when it wore out, but I've not seen that lately. Of course, we could use Duchatelet's underground heating, that should do the trick 

Weegie Addick

How quickly can Thomas get the boiler connected?!

Rothko

Weegie Addick said:

How quickly can Thomas get the boiler connected?!

Tomorrow, but whether the pipes are still ok with 5 years of no use is another thing. End up like Peterborough 

limeygent

I thought RD fixed the drainage when he first bought the club?

eastterrace6168

Is it still clear that Thomas hasn't already sorted the boiler and pipes, can't
see him wanting this potential delay and cancellation scenario to just
drag on, also, i would have thought the pipes would be capped and
so should be ready to go when connected.

jonseventyfive

Must be a few Palace old boilers who could blow the pipe.   Sorry missed out 'into ' .

JohnnyH2

limeygent said:

I thought RD fixed the drainage when he first bought the club?

Supposedly he did, but maybe with no money in the summer gone and little break maybe the correct work to maintain it in the summer was not possible. Getting the game on against Pompey, the pitch looked as bad as it did at anytime under RD and could get as bad this season as it was pre him taking over 

One of the few things we could say he got right was sorting out the pitch, can cross that off the very small list. 

Obviously this is about the seeing a and not frost which a properly connected under soil heating would ensure the game could be played in these temperatures 

MuttleyCAFC

Somebody send this to Thomas
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Strebel-Commercial-industrial-Boiler-water-heater-300-litre/224337640079?hash=item343b90ba8f:g:k~YAAOSwttRftk8j

Rothko

I think the lack of cash and the short summer has helped, the top surface usually gets ripped off in the summer, and I doubt more then a quick reseed has happened, and the top layers of the pitch are stopping it draining. 

Some decent work over the summer, and then maybe TS will get the
boiler in for the heating 

Raith_C_Chattonell

Just a thought, but can efficient heat pump technology be used for under soil heating? 

Ground source pumps derive their energy from the ground anyway and with boilers being phased out from 2025 might be worth a look. Any spare energy could be used to provide hot water to the toilets too ... 

guinnessaddick

Rothko said:

Weegie Addick said:

How quickly can Thomas get the boiler connected?!

Tomorrow, but whether the pipes are still ok with 5 years of no use is another thing. End up like Peterborough 

So the game will be on.

revellinit

Weegie Addick said:

How quickly can Thomas get the boiler connected?!

Didn`t Andrews have a say when installed? couple up to their mobile boilers if required?

SoundAsa£

Someone said a few days back that usual work that should have taken place during the summer was unable to be carried 
out.....not surprised to be honest as the funds were being spent elsewhere, quite outrageous when you think of it.

ForeverAddickted

SoundAsa£ said:

Someone said a few days back that usual work that should have taken place during the summer was unable to be carried 
out.....not surprised to be honest as the funds were being spent elsewhere, quite outrageous when you think of it.

Not surprising either as guess the break was a lot shorter

Usually the groundstaff have between the end of May to the end of July to get it sorted etc. - This time round the season ended 22nd July and restarted 19th September so the window to get it even done was a lot smaller

killerandflash

SoundAsa£ said:

Someone said a few days back that usual work that should have taken place during the summer was unable to be carried 
out.....not surprised to be honest as the funds were being spent elsewhere, quite outrageous when you think of it.

To be fair by the time we’d reached summer, the main leeches had gone, and it was down to Marian to keep the wages paid and the club out of administration 

Rothko

the groundsman was saying they had some problems with the pitch pre season, but the weather in London this week and weekend will take out any game without undersoil heating 

oohaahmortimer

ForeverAddickted said:

SoundAsa£ said:

Someone said a few days back that usual work that should have taken place during the summer was unable to be carried 
out.....not surprised to be honest as the funds were being spent elsewhere, quite outrageous when you think of it.

Not surprising either as guess the break was a lot shorter

Usually the groundstaff have between the end of May to the end of July to get it sorted etc. - This time round the season ended 22nd July and restarted 19th September so the window to get it even done was a lot smaller

End of May to the end of July is 2 months and  they had just under 2 months this time ....

or is it nearer usually 10 weeks 🤷‍♂️

Rothko

https://twitter.com/nathanc1978/status/1304768519612100610?s=20

eastterrace6168

Rothko said:

https://twitter.com/nathanc1978/status/1304768519612100610?s=20

Looks like it should be good for Saturday then

MuttleyCAFC

Looking at the BBC weather for Charlton, I reckon the game is more likely to go ahead than not. The temperatures are going to be low but nothing over -2 which I believe is more than ok for the frost covers. From 6am they are saying -1, going up to 1 at 11:00 and 2 at 13:00 and 3 at kick off time. 

If this is correct they ought to be safe enough taking the covers off at about 11:30 am.

Hex

MuttleyCAFC said:

Looking at the BBC weather for Charlton, I reckon the game is more likely to go ahead than not. The temperatures are going to be low but nothing over -2 which I believe is more than ok for the frost covers. From 6am they are saying -1, going up to 1 at 11:00 and 2 at 13:00 and 3 at kick off time. 

If this is correct they ought to be safe enough taking the covers off at about 11:30 am.

At the moment 5 days is an eternity as far as weather forecasts are concerned but ignoring that, the temperatures quoted are ‘air’ temps at roughly 4 feet off the ground.  Grass temps may well be lower by several degrees but it depends what happens between now and then ie how much low temps overcome the warmth built up in the rain drenched ground.

ct_addick

Can they rent a boiler for a week or 2 ? 

Covered End

The last time we had a game off because of a frozen pitch I recall CAFC saying the temperature of The Valley pitch (in a valley) was 2/3C below the official temperature on the weather report.

Rothko

Hex

Covered End said:

The last time we had a game off because of a frozen pitch I recall CAFC saying the temperature of The Valley pitch (in a valley) was 2/3C below the official temperature on the weather report.

That would normally be about right on a cold night but the huge amount of rain is affecting that.