Just seen the state of the pitch on the Football League show, my god our Ipswich and District League pitch was better than that. I've never seen a pitch at Portman Road close to as bad as it is now. For years Ipswich Town had one of the best pitches in the country. It's about two years now since Fergie left for St George's Park citing the pitch being 2 or 3 years overdue being relaid. It surely has to be a priority in the summer. We need to get some pride restored in our football club and that would be the best place to start.
It's because we've filled in the corners, according to someone I heard on the radio who apparently knows about these things. It stops the flow of air and is why the new Wembley has had problems and why stadia like the San Siro have to be constantly re-laid. Norman Foster went to all that trouble making sure the Wembley pitch got the requisite amount of sun everywhere but completely missed that one.
I wonder if that was only because they removed the under soil heating? Maybe we'll only get a re-lay if they have to put proper heating back in!
As I understand it, the initial ME review of the finances and general organisation concluded that the undersoil heating was costing more than it was worth, so they went for the giant balloon with hot air blower system. Whether the undersoil heating was physically removed or just turned off and mothballed I have no idea. We definitely had it at one point, though. I remember seeing it listed on our page in one of these books you can get on all the clubs in the league. If the pitch was last re-laid seven years ago, that probably pre-dates the undersoil heating business anyway.
http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/award_winning_ex_groundsman_alan_ferguson_calls_on_ipswich_town_to_spend_700_000_on_portman_road_1_1396286 I'm going on this, so he left two years ago and for the last three years of his tenure was asking Town to relay the pitch, so at minimum six or seven years
I've just googled "Ipswich Town Undersoil Heating" and I can find bugger all evidence that we've ever had undersoil heating at all! I thought I could remember a mention of it in the review the MEG undertook when they took over and decided to change it, but perhaps that was from comments on a message board rather than the report itself. Cleggy has said we should install it, but only once we're back on a premier league budget, should that ever happen. http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-...nd-a-championship-budget/?scrollto=post128212 While, as Deleted Hampy said, our ex-groundsman's been having a whinge about the pitch. Not only does it need a re-surfacing, but the very foundations needs a major overhaul. http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-...wn_to_spend_700_000_on_portman_road_1_1396286
1. I cant remember us ever having under soil heating. 2. I would suggest that our pitch is a lot better than most at this time of year.!
According to that article Jonah, the full reconstruction was overdue seven or eight years a year ago... so that pitch must be something like 15 years old now
The pitch is not that old Hampy. I remember it being shipped in from Holland and relaid during an international break around christmas time. I was living in Amsterdam at the time and I would guess it was around 2003 -2006
The pitch has definitely been re-laid in the past 4 or 5 yrs, a new drainage system was put in, for most of the season after you could see "lines" across the pitch this was from it all bedding in.!
