At a cost I think of around £1,000,000 which included a grant of £750,000 from the Premier League Stadium Fund a new hybrid-stitched Desso pitch was installed at The Valley at the beginning of the summer. I would guess that between the men and women’s teams around 18 games have been played on it.
So, what has happened to it?
It looked awfully patchy in large parts of it on Saturday, and to a lesser extent last Tuesday.
Back in April, when the club made the announcement it said that the _“Desso pitch will have a much greater durability, meaning it will be in better condition throughout the campaign.”_
Jim Rodwell said _“This investment brings our playing surface at The Valley to that elite level. We’re grateful to the club ownership for supporting the vision financially and for the investment from the Premier League Stadium Fund.”_
Elite level.
18 games, yes some bad rain but we are not yet into winter. Can they not do anything right?
I mean, it’s not even like the team are playing the ball on the grass anyway, I’m often more worried about the floodlights being damaged than the grass!
There was also work at the training ground including new pitches, but one has to assume that they are perfectly fine as according to Nathan we are playing like the 1970’s Dutch team on those.