Originally Posted by
Dodbroon
You know I agree with nearly all you are saying about the ridiculous state of our pitch, self inflicted/imposed as it is. The main thing, most unfortunately, is that we, or more to the point Nelms, have/has f*cked up big time and he may or may not accept or realise that but there will be no bettering the situation until the close season. If he doesn't sort out things then it won't be just mismanagement it'll be criminal neglect.
Turning to the weather. You could probably call me a nerd about weather matters and it is a hobby/interest of mine. I don't record rainfall myself but read the stats and despair about the accuracy of the forecasting. I won't resort to writing FACT after every sentence I write like that tube over on Dayglo' Mad but I am pretty sure of the stuff I print on this subject. With a perfect pitch or even reasonably serviceable pitch we wouldn't be having this 'conversation' but timing in our current situation is paramount. There is no doubt the pitch was perfectly playable on Saturday and will likely be so tomorrow maybe even tonight. Weather has become increasingly volatile and subject to extremes especially when it comes to rainfall. A period of about two months during the winter there produced an amount equal to our 'normal' historical annual figure and whilst the number of rainy days is indeed greatly increased it is the amount of rain that has been falling in fairly narrow periods of time that has shown an even greater upturn and that has been part of the problem. In other words the severe downpours are only slightly more frequent but hugely heavier in terms of the amount of water falling. An inch of rain in a short period used to be uncommon in this area, historically the driest part of the country, but now much more common. With a bit of luck regarding the timing of these downpours and we wouldn't again be having said 'conversation' and our sub standard pitch would have ' got away with it' as would Nelms but the stats show that we have indeed been unfortunate in weather timings this season.
So to sum up its our fault and the the weather is not an excuse but actually a reason for the call offs in conjunction with a pitch with knackered drains.