The pitch at St Mary's...

Might be just me but the pitch at St Mary's looks the worst I've ever known...

Ok we've had some excessive rain but it looks appalling and is cutting up very easily.

We've constantly received the plaudits for the playing surface come rain or shine.

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Might be just me but the pitch at St Mary's looks the worst I've ever known...

Ok we've had some excessive rain but it looks appalling and is cutting up very easily.

We've constantly received the plaudits for the playing surface come rain or shine.

 

 

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Pitch looked bad today, almost as bad as Eastleigh.

Never seen it this bad, why?

3 home games in a week?

We weren't on TV that's why

Couldn't find a fault with team this week, time to have a go about the pitch

I think that the water level is extremely high across the entire UK. Most ground is saturated even here in the relatively dry East Anglia, let alone a much wetter Southampton. There is standing water on my usual dog walk in places that I've never seen before (in over 20 years except in flood conditions), and we haven't had much rain here!

Add to that the fact that the pitch is at sea level, it has to be entirely dependent on drainage systems, and there is obviously a limit that these can cope.

BTW -You should have seen The Dell in the 60s!

Might be just me but the pitch at St Mary's looks the worst I've ever known...

Ok we've had some excessive rain but it looks appalling and is cutting up very easily.

We've constantly received the plaudits for the playing surface come rain or shine.

Very heavy rain over a prolonged period and 3 home games in 7 days. What did you expect it would look like after that?

A lot of pitches are looking ****e atm. The wettest December on record may be the cause.

Carlisle's pitch looked bad the other day. Hope they have given the incompetent groundsman the boot.

Southampton normally has 80mm of rain on average in Jauuary, in the first 15 days of Jan it's had 115mm. Thats almost three times as much as normal.

I think Saint Lards post is correct, the pitch normally looks like a bowling green and te other day I wondered if we had changed our groundsman. Whilst it has been the wettest December I suspect we have had other months of heavyrainfall and the pitch being able to cope. Personally if we play as we have lets leave it like it is , lets go back to the days of the Baseball ground!!! Distant memories but it was a magic time to watch football

3 games in 7 days and lots of rain......simples

We have had extraordinary levels of rain and then a cold snap you have the perfect storm. Our ground staff are the best in the country

Carlisle's pitch looked bad the other day. Hope they have given the incompetent groundsman the boot.

Yeah, and I hope they returned those Koi carp to their rightful owner, they're expensive fish..

It's been noticeably worse for a while, since before the recent heavy rains.

Maybe something to do with the mild winter?

I've no idea but it's definitely below normal standards.

Any one at the Watford game will know one of the reasons why. It was torrential rain and there was standing water for a period in the second half when the drainage just couldn't cope. As a result the pitch got really cut up and at the end of that game both goal mouths were like a quagmire. I actually thought that the pitch had recovered pretty well by yesterday.

It has been a bit sub usual standard for a while though, not just during this period of heavy use.

Certainly not as good as previous years overall.

Carlisle's pitch looked bad the other day. Hope they have given the incompetent groundsman the boot.

Surely they should give him two boots?

It has a "disease", that's all I know. Apparently these things spread via players boots.

Don't think it's the amount of games this week as it looked pretty bad against Palace.

It has a "disease", that's all I know. Apparently these things spread via players boots.

I hope it's not the same as the Murrayfield pitch a couple of years back - parasites were the problem. Treated with garlic, before getting a re-turf [i think].

nothing to do with the wet weather, they changed groundsman a while back and the pitch has slowly got worse ever since. It's now the worst I have ever seen it

nothing to do with the wet weather, they changed groundsman a while back and the pitch has slowly got worse ever since. It's now the worst I have ever seen it

So it's no longer the guy that did all the patterns at the end of the season?

So it's no longer the guy that did all the patterns at the end of the season?

Its still Andy Gray.

I wouldnt thought disease or pests would be a problem what with the funds and experience the team must have.

nothing to do with the wet weather, they changed groundsman a while back and the pitch has slowly got worse ever since. It's now the worst I have ever seen it

No they didn't, they gave him a promotion and let him hire another groundsman.

I wouldnt thought disease or pests would be a problem what with the funds and experience the team must have.

Golf courses live and die by the condition of the grass and especially the on greens. Most metaphorically chop up £20 notes and spread them across the surface to keep them tip top in all weather conditions 365 days a year, Just about every head green keeper and many of his staff are highly educated in grass and course management. But despite all this diligence they sweat about grass infections (I can't remember it's name, one is particularly damaging ) that just decimates the grass.

No amount of money can prevent this, plus I doubt football pitches get the same chemical cocktail golf courses get due to the fact that players will be rolling about on them.......... You never lick your fingers on a golf course.

Personally I blame the new stadium announcer and her high heels.....

Personally I blame the new stadium announcer and her high heels.....

Ha-ha! that just made me think of being at Wentworth for the PGA Championship, the presentation was made on the 18th green, out totters the Sky TV MC Kirsty Gallagher looking pretty wearing heels and having to walk uncomfortably out to the lectern on the green as if she knew that the Green Keeper was lurking somewhere in the bushes with his Martini snipers trained on her, finger on trigger ready for the moment a heel broke the surface.

Apologies for the attack of the Dubai Phil's in the last couple of posts in this thread.

I thought exactly the same, it has been cutting up for a while and was wondering why those huge heatlamps we've got haven't been improving the growth. Also and I am certainly not knowledgeable on the subject but I have thought we have been over watering it because the players have been slipping a lot and kicking up loads of water even during a dry spell.

Golf courses live and die by the condition of the grass and especially the on greens. Most metaphorically chop up £20 notes and spread them across the surface to keep them tip top in all weather conditions 365 days a year, Just about every head green keeper and many of his staff are highly educated in grass and course management. But despite all this diligence they sweat about grass infections (I can't remember it's name, one is particularly damaging ) that just decimates the grass.

No amount of money can prevent this, plus I doubt football pitches get the same chemical cocktail golf courses get due to the fact that players will be rolling about on them.......... You never lick your fingers on a golf course.

And the Premier League is really strapped for cash

if you watched mod the pitches at spurs and bmouth didn't look great

Surely they should give him two boots?

Maybe they should just give him the boat?

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20150606-st-marys-pitch-renovation-under-way-2484431.aspx

A couple of pre-seasons where the normal pitch preparation has been disrupted, although Andy Gray was confident that the pitch would be better this season. I seem to remember also reading that installing the undersoil heating meant that they had to have a new mixture of natural and artificial grass, and the extra amount of natural grass was affecting the quality of the pitch. I noticed this week the the subs were moved regularly during the warm up so that they did not destroy one square of the pitch.

nothing to do with the wet weather, they changed groundsman a while back and the pitch has slowly got worse ever since. It's now the worst I have ever seen it

Er, I don't think we did. Did we?

Golf courses live and die by the condition of the grass and especially the on greens. Most metaphorically chop up £20 notes and spread them across the surface to keep them tip top in all weather conditions 365 days a year, Just about every head green keeper and many of his staff are highly educated in grass and course management. But despite all this diligence they sweat about grass infections (I can't remember it's name, one is particularly damaging ) that just decimates the grass.

No amount of money can prevent this, plus I doubt football pitches get the same chemical cocktail golf courses get due to the fact that players will be rolling about on them.......... You never lick your fingers on a golf course.

Fusarium and Dollar spot.

I think that the water level is extremely high across the entire UK. Most ground is saturated even here in the relatively dry East Anglia, let alone a much wetter Southampton. There is standing water on my usual dog walk in places that I've never seen before (in over 20 years except in flood conditions), and we haven't had much rain here!

Add to that the fact that the pitch is at sea level, it has to be entirely dependent on drainage systems, and there is obviously a limit that these can cope.

 

BTW -You should have seen The Dell in the 60s!

Oh yes we can remember those days. In some winters, it got so bad you could almost count the blades of grass.....if it wasn't for all the mud.

In general, SMS is in very good condition and got " an hourable mention " for the best pitches last season ...behind Old Trafford and The Emirates......

Not one for name dropping

(And this is my first post on here)

But my cousin was in charge of looking after the St Mary's pitch, he left in June last year when a better opportunity came up, probably has nothing to do with the pitch this season but you never know, he was/is very good at what he does.