Winter Sports - Football “
We’ll be hosting Manchester United here towards the end of the month - by the time you read this, the game will have been played, but we can dream that the team pull off the impossible and the pitch does us proud as well
pretty pleasing that we’ve turned the pitch around from a 2.9 at the same stage the previous season. The coaches from Sheffield
were very impressed with the surface, and it made for an exciting end to end game that resulted in Shrewsbury winning 3- 2, with a late, injury time winner. The League form seemed a distant memory to the fans at final whistle, amid jubilant scenes. The upshot of the win, meant that the club was in the draw for the 5th round for the first time in sixteen years. At this stage, neither Richard nor I were bothered (we of course secretly wished for away draws in all the previous rounds) if we were at home, because we hoped that we’d be getting someone decent out of the hat. The Sunday evening draw for
Close up of north end on 29th January
the last 16, brought with it the plum draw that we all hoped for, and we’ll be hosting Manchester United here towards the end of the month - by the time you read this, the game will have been played, but we can dream that the team pull off the impossible and the pitch does us proud as well. We spent the Monday morning doing pitch repairs, and then used the Hondas in the afternoon to stand the grass up and collect grass debris. The weather again is horrible, with more rain coming in with Storm Henry and gale force winds making the stand roofs ripple and the grass dry out considerably.
When the club made it into the 29th January: final preparation ...
4th round of the cup, it meant yet another postponement of our League fixtures; this time Southend. I had asked our club secretary if she could request a rearrangement for the end of March or in April, but the Football League were insistent that it should be played just three days after the Sheffield game. This flies somewhat in the face of what they
told us at the Football League meetings back in October, where they want to help groundsmen. I emailed the League and, at the time of writing (ten days later), I am yet to receive the courtesy of a reply.
We mowed the pitch with the G860s one way - it had had enough presentation in the last eight days anyway with three games - and over-marked the lines ready for the evening’s league game with Southend. For televison purposes, the Manchester United game is being played on the evening of Monday 22nd February, so we have twenty days to get the pitch ready. After we finished repairs following the game Tuesday night, we used the brush cassettes in the G860s to clean the surface and get the grass stood back up. This was followed by an overseed, using a Blec dimple seeder and five bags each of Limagrain’s 75R and MM60. The hope is that temperatures will stay high enough for the MM60 to germinate as well as the 75R and we can get back to a 100% grass cover again, albeit aesthetically, before the cup game. Following seeding, we verti-
drained the pitch and then covered it with our frost sheets to help the new seed chit. We will monitor the grass under the covers over the next few day to make sure there’s no disease and, once the seed does germinate, we’ll take them off. I will take this opportunity to thank the club’s outgoing CEO, Matt Williams, who joined Burnley at the beginning of February. It was Matt who agreed our contract and he has been a great support throughout the last 9 months. Good luck for the future Matt!
I’ll write part III at the end of the season, and hope then to provide a cost of this year’s maintenance, in terms of products etc. used.
... and presented for play 68 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148