Its because in the summer, with much less time between seasons, most clubs elected for basic maintenance just patching up and carrying on. Whereas our grounds team elected to do a full reseed, and with only 5 weeks for it to regrow instead of the usual 10 or so, it didn't knit properly and broke up almost immediately. Thats how I understand what the Head Groundsman said in a programme interview and implies no criticism.
Plus more games played in a shorter space of time, so less time to recover between matches I'd have thought.
Correct. It would have ended up in a very similar state had they not tried any renovation. So it was worth the risk. It’s been a tough year for the groundsmen at all clubs. An unusual amount of games in such a short space of time with no real time between seasons.
Very true , the Barnsley area has taken a battering over the last couple of months , loads of rainfall , snow & frosts , all this causing the water table to be very high , one of my hobbies is walking/trecking & everywhere you go the ground is saturated , its hardly surprising the pitch is struggling .
Just speculating, my thoughts about the pitch, could it be the board that appear to be actively looking at getting away from Oakwell, are underfunding pitch maintenance etc???.
Will the pitch last out the season? Swansea have relayed their pitch could we not do the same? Is it an advantage for us not too. I would have thought with with the technically great players we have it would be a disadvantage to continually play on a poor pitch.
I take it no body as seen the state of Brentford’s pitch How many games they played on it 12 at the most
The state of the pitch ...?.....It's down to the mineral exploration that's taking place between the halfway line and the corner of the kop / brewery stand ( North / East stand )
I disagree with this, football on a plastic pitch is a different game. Ball bounces differently, doesn’t travel along the floor as well. Will give the home team an unfair advantage in my eyes. I sympathised with Harrogate, especially to rip it up and lay a grass field in a shorter period of time than they usually would have. But I think it’s the right call to play on grass.