United had hired training pitches from the Local Council but, that year, they acquired the old Civil Service Sports Club situated six miles east of the City. The ten hectare site offered plenty of scope for development. The existing pitches were soil based. Some were upgraded by improving the rootzone, and the club also developed three Fibersand pitches and installed a full size indoor FieldTurf rubber crumb synthetic pitch.
The club also purchased a further eleven hectares of farmland adjacent to the first team headquarters. Here they built the Academy facility with three full size, two junior and three mini soccer pitches, plus a full size outdoor FieldTurf synthetic pitch.
Civil Service Site
In April 2002 work began on the Civil Service site. The topsoil was removed and the clay was cut and filled to level and create two plateaus. Plateau 1 was the site for three
Fibersand pitches. These were constructed with a 250mm layer of 10mm drainage grit. Then a 250mm layer of topsoil was added to retain nutrient content. This was then overlaid with a further 250 mm of 70/30 rootzone.
A primary and secondary drainage scheme was installed at 5 metre centres with secondary gravel banding at 1 metre centres. In May, a 50mm depth of Fibersand was laid and overseeded with a Barenbrug pure ryegrass mixture allowing four months to mature before training commenced in September. Plateau 2, the site for three and a half full sized soil based pitches, was restored to a depth of 600 mm, levelled and seeded. A secondary gravel band system was later installed in 2004.
A fully automated Rainbird irrigation system was installed on both plateaus during the reconstruction with a total of 550 sprinkler heads able to deliver 10,000 gallons of water.
Academy site
A major cutting and filling operation was needed to form the academy pitches. Apart from the FieldTurf construction all the pitches were soil based with a similar specification to those on the Plateau 2 site.
Maintenance of Fibersand pitches
The Fibersand pitches at the training grounds have been Koroed twice since their construction, first in 2004 when all three pitches were re-levelled and overseeded with Rigby Taylor’s R14, and again in 2006, which involved the same process but incorporating a further 700 tons of sand that was cultivated into the top 100 mm to dilute the original fibre content that had become firm. Levels were restored and oversown with Advanta MM60, a pure Ryegrass seed mix that included four top varieties (Doremi, Master, Sanremo and Verdi). The pitches were then fertilised with a pre seeding 20.10.10 applied at a rate of 350 Kg / hectare. Further applications were carried out every 18-21 days with Scotts 12.0.9 + fe and mg fertiliser. All fertiliser products are applied using pedestrian machines, keeping tractor mounted equipment off the surfaces as much as possible. The pitches were also treated, on three occasions through June, July and August, with an application of Mascots Fusonil Turf (active ingredient chlorothalonil) a fungicide to control outbreaks of leaf spot. The sward was cut and boxed off with Ransomes Mastiffs until established.
Once established, the staff were able to use their Ransomes LF 300 fairway cylinder mower.
Winter months
During the winter months the pitches are Verti-drained once a month with very little heave at 100 mm centres, the pitches are also slit tined in between the Verti-drain operations. A fertiliser regime is still maintained applying a granular 6.0.12 + fe, mg every 18 to 21 days. Light scarifying is undertaken on a monthly basis with a tractor mounted Charterhouse Turf Tidy. Box mowing is undertaken on a weekly basis, normally on Thursday or Friday, using the Mastiffs set at 30mm. Divoting is carried out on a daily basis;
Pedestrian rotary cutters with boxes are used once a month to help keep the surface clean.
Summer months
During the summer the pitches are cut daily using an LF300 fairway mower, leaving the clippings. Regular scarifying is carried out to reduce Annual Meadow grass and debris build up, and fertilised every 18 to 21 days with 12.0.9 + fe, mg at a rate of 350 / 400 kg/h. The irrigation system is used on a regular basis during dry weather with a drench and leave policy in place. Regular examination of the sward is undertaken for signs of any fungal activity and Verti-drained at four inch centres as and when required.
Maintenance regime for Soil Based Pitches.
In February 2004 the staff gravel banded the entire area at one-metre centres to a depth of 200 mm using 3-5 mm gravel. In 2005 the whole plateau was Koroed
It takes 35 minutes to set up the lighting rigs; four, 2m high rigs being laid out the full length of the pitch.
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