Pitch

[jimmyboldon]

At St James Park, Newcastle, four lighting rigs which have been moved across the pitch every 48 hours this winter, have eliminated the need to re-turf mid-season, saving the club 120,000k.

"Grass never grows here in winter, and we were always on a knife-edge to see how long the pitch would last before re-turfing," says Newcastle United's stadium manger Eddie Rutherford. "We have never had a pitch of such consistent quality as we have now. Annual costs with depreciation and energy to run the lights, is around 64,000k but this is cheaper than re-turfing. The lights have made a real difference to us."

Seems to me that 64 grand would be well spent. About the cost of one senior professional player?

[grestyraider7]

I can't reckon to know the cost of purchasing the lighting units that prem. league clubs have, or the cost to run them, but it can't be cheap. Surely a bit more thought when the stand was built would have benefitted??. We talk about the pitch issue every season, and re-seed/relay every close season. How much would it cost to put perspex cut outs into the stand roof/ back of the stand to let some light in and onto the "grass"??

[Mojofilter]

If the A£64k figure is correct (and again considering our preferred style of play) I'd say that's money well spent.

Dunno how much we spend when we re-turf, but it seems to happen fairly frequently so that needs to be deduced from the cost.

I'd prefer to have 1 less player and a decent pitch simply because we play better on a decent pitch.
Plus we'd probably pick up less injuries.

[AstonAlex]

Agreed, if a solution could be found costing between A£50k and A£100k that sounds like a good investment.

Then just sit back and wait for the first poster next season , after a run of bad results, who asks why the club has 'wasted' money on this when we have millions in the bank and should be spending it on players!! You KNOW they will and you KNOW who it will be!!

[bonehead]

thought we had a man on the board (Mr Clayton) who is involved in groundworks grass and the like - if not why is he on the board with so little shares

also we dont hear that "The Heath" isnt good to play on - so is all the money going on there and not the Alex Pitch

surely our problem is the players not the pitch - we played just as poor as oldham but without hurting them , gave them the confidence and they upped there game - we only started after they scored

[Crewe313]

It would be interesting to see all the costs with how to maintain our pitch better.

I remember a dfew seasons ago we were on terrible form and were getting beaten by everyone. We then play Luton away on a pitch which could have been a carpet and won 5-1. The arguement is, if a better pitch results in better results then surely that would be worth the money. The higher you finish up the league the more money or the further you go in cups then again more money and perhaps a lucky draw with a big club.

Thats why Wembley is our second home, as that pitch is perfect for our style of football.
Obviously it does all cost money but would better performances and results ofset the cost?

[D4zer]

The pitch is dreadful, and it's not the first time Davis has mentioned it (bucket and spade comment last season). Even the Oldham boss mentioned it in his post match interview.

This seems like common sense to me. Why isn't the club doing more to help when this can only have a positive effect on our favoured style of football, and therefore performances?

[alexmick]

Poor excuse from the manager to blame the pitch. This is the same pitch that we hammered Sheffield United on a month ago. In fact, it was wetter and had fewer blades of grass on it for that game. I noticed Inman slipping three times down the wing during the first half. Obviously was wearing the wrong type of footwear. Blame the players and the tactics, Steve, before getting on about the pitch. It has had a three week to dry out.

It's the fact that it's dry, Mick, that makes it more difficult to play on - not that I think it's an excuse, as I've said elsewhere.[/quote]

If the pitch was bone hard, because of our current drought, then why on earth have they not used those sprinklers? For the simple reason that they have been out of action for a while now. Get them fixed Mr Bowler!

[southred]

The standard of the pitch has gradually got worse since one of the groundstaff left a while ago.
It certainly affects our play imo