Pitch

Pitch

MrBoomBoom said:
If we’re basing this over 23 games, then I don’t recall many moaning about the pitch in August, September, October etc?

Nobody’s disputing it’s an issue, but it’s becoming a convenient excuse for the recent shit form which looks silly when you see how well Hull handled it last night.

If they can handle it for one game, why can’t we?
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Probably it wasn't absolutely dog shit in those months. Its only the last couple of months its totally disintegrated.
 
JK said:
Please tell me you are taking the piss?

Even my lawn looks like Prime Wembley in the Summer months.
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Yep, so you agree with my point.

Which is why the reference to us having to play on it for 23 games (which you liked) was an irrelevant point.

Got there in the end.
 
MrBoomBoom said:
Yep, so you agree with my point.

Which is why the reference to us having to play on it for 23 games (which you liked) was an irrelevant point.

Got there in the end
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So it is your view that because the pitch is good earlier in the season, that balances things out?

Wow.
 
JK said:
So it is your view that because the pitch is good earlier in the season, that balances things out?

Wow.
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Did you ever actually read what people are posting/replying to JK, or just get overly excited mid-post and steam in?

Last response.. work to do etc but I'll try and make it clearer.. NOBODY is disputing the pitch is a state.. HOWEVER it's become a convenient EXCUSE by some recently for our SLUMP in FORM.

Hull seemed to cope with it really well last night, I thought they knocked it about well and looked good on and off the ball.
 
MrBoomBoom said:
Did you ever actually read what people are posting/replying to JK, or just get overly excited mid-post and steam in?
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I was responding to your post regarding people using the pitch as an excuse?

So bang on topic.

MrBoomBoom said:
Last response.. work to do etc but I'll try and make it clearer.. NOBODY is disputing the pitch is a state.. HOWEVER it's become a convenient EXCUSE by some recently for our SLUMP in FORM.
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It is not a convenient excuse for our slump in form but it definitely has a correlation between the two.

Wether that is mentally or practically. I think it has become easier for away teams to adapt to it for one game, than it is for us to change our entire approach.

Teams and fans expectations of performance and style are often different away from home.

For the first time in years we have some real technical players and then serve that up?

MrBoomBoom said:
Hull seemed to cope with it really well last night, I thought they knocked it about well and looked good on and off the ball.
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Hull did play well but see my point above.
 
JK said:
For the first time in years we have some real technical players and then serve that up?
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Totally agree. It's below the level it should be at for our level of ambition, so that's a concern. If the facilities don't match the ambition we're never going to get anywhere.

Symptomatic of the neverending cheapskate approach from the IoM.

And to be clear, I'm not slagging the ground staff. Our pitch is just not up to the required standards from an investment POV.
 
I ask this out of utter ignorance but how come our pitch is so bad this year?

Is it the weather being so different than in previous seasons or are we spending significantly less on it's upkeep?

I know technological advances mean we are choosing NOT to invest in those but grass is grass and it's never been this bad? Our groundsman won awards for it 15-20 years ago - what's changed?!
 
cragtek said:
Totally agree. It's below the level it should be at for our level of ambition, so that's a concern. If the facilities don't match the ambition we're never going to get anywhere.

Symptomatic of the neverending cheapskate approach from the IoM.

And to be clear, I'm not slagging the ground staff. Our pitch is just not up to the required standards from an investment POV.
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Completely agree regarding the ground staff. They can only do what they can do. The pitch should’ve been resolved in the summer by making it into a desso pitch, funds taken completely separate from the transfer kitty. However the owners aren’t willing to sanction that so we are now in the situation we find ourselves in.
 
SiYSC said:
I ask this out of utter ignorance but how come our pitch is so bad this year?

Is it the weather being so different than in previous seasons or are we spending significantly less on it's upkeep?

I know technological advances mean we are choosing NOT to invest in those but grass is grass and it's never been this bad? Our groundsman won awards for it 15-20 years ago - what's changed?!
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I did a bit of research on that, and I'm not a groundskeeping expert by any stretch but I did find some info on what the main factors seem to be.

Basically it looks like a cumulative set of impacts that never give the pitch time to recover. The roots ends up saturated, so the grass can’t anchor properly and just shears off under load. Once that starts happening it’s almost impossible to catch up, because every attempt to reseed or repair gets undone by either more rain or further churn under match conditions. The weather hasn’t helped. The ground is effectively “full” and struggles to absorb the next hit.

For example:
December 2025 was above average for rainfall in the North West (Met Office: 111% of average; Environment Agency: 118% of long-term average), and the Environment Agency also noted that soil moisture deficit remained saturated across much of Lancashire and Cumbria.

A desso pitch or similar hybrid system would give the roots something to bind to, allowing the grass to survive saturation far better than a natural surface. So the lack of investment combined with worse weather gives the grounds staff an impossible uphill climb. Sets them up to fail.

I'm sure there's other ways we could invest too, like better regrow lights etc. Birmingham go all out with their LEDs for pitch regrowth: Dazzling pink sky seen over Birmingham in Storm Goretti snowfall
 
cragtek said:
I did a bit of research on that, and I'm not a groundskeeping expert by any stretch but I did find some info on what the main factors seem to be.

Basically it looks like a cumulative set of impacts that never give the pitch time to recover. The roots ends up saturated, so the grass can’t anchor properly and just shears off under load. Once that starts happening it’s almost impossible to catch up, because every attempt to reseed or repair gets undone by either more rain or further churn under match conditions. The weather hasn’t helped. The ground is effectively “full” and struggles to absorb the next hit.

For example:
December 2025 was above average for rainfall in the North West (Met Office: 111% of average; Environment Agency: 118% of long-term average), and the Environment Agency also noted that soil moisture deficit remained saturated across much of Lancashire and Cumbria.

A desso pitch or similar hybrid system would give the roots something to bind to, allowing the grass to survive saturation far better than a natural surface. So the lack of investment combined with worse weather gives the grounds staff an impossible uphill climb. Sets them up to fail.

I'm sure there's other ways we could invest too, like better regrow lights etc. Birmingham go all out with their LEDs for pitch regrowth: Dazzling pink sky seen over Birmingham in Storm Goretti snowfall
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That's really informative. Thanks, bud. 👍

Who'd have though climate change would start to bite football in the arse so early into the century!?
 
I have seen some comments about other teams have played alright on our pitch but we can't. They only have to play on it once!.

I think of my work and stuff I have done in the past, I have done outreach delivery in some right s**tholes, but I think get on with it and get out, don't need to be back. So you can.
However if they were my permanent place of work, it would be a totally different mindset for me.
 
JK said:
So it is your view that because the pitch is good earlier in the season, that balances things out?

Wow.
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I could be wrong but, what he is trying to say is out of 23 home games the ones in early season and the ones later on would be played on a good surface so we wouldn't play 23 on a shit pitch only about 10?

Probably it is more that some of are players aren't good enough on a good pitch and are even worse on a shit one.
 
Granted the pitch is crap, I agree.
However it did not stop Derby players or Hull city players from passing the ball quickly and accurately or stop them controlling in an instant where it takes Preston players sometimes three or four touches to control the ball.
Nor did the state of the pitch stop either team from scoring.
We should be furious about the state of the pitch yes, and demand more from the owners, definitely, but can we stop using it as an excuse for why we have been so poor as late.
 
MrBoomBoom said:
If we’re basing this over 23 games, then I don’t recall many moaning about the pitch in August, September, October etc?

Nobody’s disputing it’s an issue, but it’s becoming a convenient excuse for the recent shit form which looks silly when you see how well Hull handled it last night.

If they can handle it for one game, why can’t we?
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On the first game, during the warm up, I commented to my mate that already the pitch was turning up
 
cragtek said:
I'm sure there's other ways we could invest too, like better regrow lights etc. Birmingham go all out with their LEDs for pitch regrowth: Dazzling pink sky seen over Birmingham in Storm Goretti snowfall
Click to expand...

Been back visiting relatives tonight who live about 5 miles away from Deepdale and it looks like North End have gone all out and following the Birmingham method.

I can clearly see the Deepdale floodlights and the sky over Deepdale has a lovely pink glow high above it.
 
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