Not sure how true this is but thought I saw somewhere that a lot of Prem pitches now and Wembley are a mix with a high percentage artificial and just enough real grass in there to be able to call it a grass pitch?
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We may as well join a subbuteo league and be done with it😂
I’ve always thought this was another cost cutting over sight when Bescot was built.
I remember when the ground opened up for a look around for potential season ticket holders and I remarked upon how small the playing surface looked (there were no lines drawn at that time). And sure enough we started playing on a pitch that was the bare minimum in size. The meter either side was added a few years after the ground opened.
If, like Flynn you want to make the pitch compact then that’s fine. I’m sure it would have suited Sir Ray too. But for a more expansive team, a team who wanted more space on the pitch, we don’t have the option of getting anywhere near the maximum permitted. The later Smith teams the best example but Sorenson’s team too.
We know the ground was built on the cheap. The fact it limits the options of the manager and their style of play is just another reason (far from the biggest reason tbf) not to like the place.
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I agree.
I’ve thought about this previously. Could those horrid breezeblock walls be taken down and some of the walk ways be used to expand on the playing area. Not so much regarding the size of the pitch, as Flynn seens to want a narrower pitch, but to avoid potential injuries. The amount of times players have gone into the walls or had to jump over them to avoid collisions is too much for my liking. The current walk ways are quite wide and im sure some of that real estate could be used, with minimal cost.
Common sense when the ground was built would have been to extend the playing surface in both width and length but we’re now restricted.
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I went to watch England v Ireland under 18s at bescot few weeks back, one of the Irish lads went head first into the breeze block wall and he had to be substituted, he was being sick because of what happened.
Those “Breeze Block” walls are reinforced concrete, probably as strong as those anti-crossover walls on the motorways, not surprised it made the lad sick.
The walkways probably couldnt be made much narrower, other than behind the goals, minimum width is a requirement.
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