The State of Ewood Park!

[bluebruce]

I'm also confused at the notion that we 'had' to train on Ewood. So what, there wasn't another suitable pitch within 30 miles that we could have borrowed?

[Darrenbot]

Training on the pitch before the Doncaster game didnt help the performance,they could have given the team the week off to get the same performance out of them.

[TheKitGuy]

On the fact the first team trained on Ewood.. don't we have indoor facilities at Brockhall? Surely 2 days indoor training in full size pitches is just the same? 

[JHRover]

There's also the outdoor 3g pitch at Brockhall that surely could be used as an emergency alternative?

[JBiz]

1 minute ago, JHRover said:

There's also the outdoor 3g pitch at Brockhall that surely could be used as an emergency alternative?

The decision to train on the pitch is baffling without knowing why the decision was taken - one would assume that all options at Brockhall must’ve been out of the question. It is higher up and more open to the elements too.

[Mattyblue]

What about the BRIC? May get a few carpet burns, but it never used to do my 5 a side teams any harm!

Edited January 21, 2021 by Mattyblue

[Sparks Rover]

33 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

I'm also confused at the notion that we 'had' to train on Ewood. So what, there wasn't another suitable pitch within 30 miles that we could have borrowed?

LFA have a very good 4g at Leyland 

[Rogerb]

If swag was a property developer I wouldn't want to buy a house he had 'renovated'

[HowieFive0]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

I'm also confused at the notion that we 'had' to train on Ewood. So what, there wasn't another suitable pitch within 30 miles that we could have borrowed?

Covid remember ..cant be using facilities willy nilly in a 30 mile radius ..we have to be seen to be doing the right thing.

[deanives]

1 hour ago, only2garners said:

There's a world of difference (and cost) between relaying or reseeding a pitch and a full renovation. Whilst there will have been regular reseedings the whole pitch structure down to the gravel and undersoil heating was last done in 1992.

That sounds almost like having the same brush but I've changed the head 10 times and the shaft 4 times 🤣

[Ben Frost]

On 19/01/2021 at 13:20, JHRover said:

What an absolute shambles. The people owning and running the club should be thoroughly embarrassed and ashamed of themselves.

The people I feel sorry for are the ground staff and players. 

The ground staff do the best they can with the resources they are given. It is clear the owners and directors have cut corners and costs and now it comes home to roost.

The players have joined this club presumably thinking they are joining a professional and serious operation hoping to get to the Premier League. 

Yet a stadium and pitch barely maintained, no undersoil heating and blocked drains getting games called off. Its like amateur hour.

I don't believe the volume of rain has been unprecedented and alone has caused the postponement. Neglect of facilities and corner cutting has exacerbated the problem significantly.

Curious how for 25 years after Ewood was rebuilt the rain never caused a postponement and yet during the Venky malaise the pitch is a disgrace and can't cope with heavy showers.

We need owners who care and take pride in the club. It embarrasses me.

Anyone else noticed the Frost covers laid out alongside the Ewood pitch recently? Looks like they've given up on the undersoil heating. Presumably it costs too much or they haven't bothered maintaining it so instead are using sheets to stop the pitch becoming frozen.

The frost covers were donated by the 100 Club to help the academy at Brockhall. It seems these covers have been requisitioned and moved to Ewood Park. 

Not a problem? Well it means the Brockhall pitches aren't covered from frost so the team won't train on there. This is the reason the team have trained on Ewood recently as it is the only unfrozen grass pitch. This is the reason the pitch has rapidly deteriorated into the mess it is because in addition to games it has been used for training.

What an absolute shambles. Venkys, Waggott and Mowbray out asap.

Head Groundsman Trevor Wilkin - directly quoted in the Club Statement:

"Ultimately, the first team needed to train, so Ewood, which has undersoil heating, was used as a training facility for two days in the lead up to the FA Cup tie against Doncaster."

"it really was unavoidable on this occasion, as there would not have been enough time for the pitch to drain into the River Darwen, whose levels were already extremely high"

"The weather had also taken its toll on the training ground, with all the pitches frozen, even though they had been covered with the frost sheets."

In other words, the undersoil heating at Ewood works, the drains aren't blocked, and the frost sheets are still at Brockhall.  All of which makes your attack on the club on Tuesday look rather undermined. Or based on statements which you presented as fact when you didn't actually know them to be true.

4 hours ago, JHRover said:

We can be absolutely certain that if Waggott is behind the 'renovation' it will be a cheap and cheerful patch up job like every other summer and he'll be relying on nice weather and 2 months of no football more than anything else to sort it.

Sharpe could really set the cat among the pigeons by ringing up Andy Holt and asking him how much Stanley have spent on their pitch the last 4 years. That would hammer things home I'm sure when compared to Rovers.

Sharpe could also wind it up by asking Waggott whether the new pitch or new Riverside stand will get priority. Neither likely to happen for a very long time.

The only way any serious work will be done is if the owners are shamed into action or Mowbray brings it up as a big problem.

I hope Mowbray won't even be here by then but if he is i hope he will have bigger things on his plate than the state of the pitch and will be clinging to his job. He's not going to start making additional demands stretching into 7 figure investments.

I've spoken to Trevor Wilkin a few times and I've no doubt he works his socks off and has always done his best. Approaching 40 years at the club is some effort.

Same goes for many others who work hard but unfortunately when you have owners who couldn't give a stuff and bullshitters in the boardroom there's only one way things end up.

 

There is no doubt that the pitch is a mess, and the club has released a comprehensive statement explaining how that has happened, and what they intend to do about it in the short and long term.

I'm not sure why that has triggered you to launch this latest rant against the club, starting off with the words "We can be absolutely certain" but once again based on nothing factual. Perhaps it's because you're a bit embarrassed that your mate Trev has so comprehensively exposed Tuesday's post for what it is.

[StevenSK]

2 hours ago, Rogerb said:

If swag was a property developer I wouldn't want to buy a house he had 'renovated'

SWAG isn’t but Venus is

[DeeCee]

3 hours ago, Ben Frost said:

Head Groundsman Trevor Wilkin - directly quoted in the Club Statement:

"Ultimately, the first team needed to train, so Ewood, which has undersoil heating, was used as a training facility for two days in the lead up to the FA Cup tie against Doncaster."

"it really was unavoidable on this occasion, as there would not have been enough time for the pitch to drain into the River Darwen, whose levels were already extremely high"

"The weather had also taken its toll on the training ground, with all the pitches frozen, even though they had been covered with the frost sheets."

In other words, the undersoil heating at Ewood works, the drains aren't blocked, and the frost sheets are still at Brockhall.  All of which makes your attack on the club on Tuesday look rather undermined. Or based on statements which you presented as fact when you didn't actually know them to be true.

There is no doubt that the pitch is a mess, and the club has released a comprehensive statement explaining how that has happened, and what they intend to do about it in the short and long term.

I'm not sure why that has triggered you to launch this latest rant against the club, starting off with the words "We can be absolutely certain" but once again based on nothing factual. Perhaps it's because you're a bit embarrassed that your mate Trev has so comprehensively exposed Tuesday's post for what it is.

Is Trev still there? Fantastic, he was always very diligent and proud of his work as groundsman. Top bloke. 👍

[Miller11]

4 hours ago, StevenSK said:

SWAG isn’t but Venus is

Yeah... this caused a lot of questions to be asked at Coventry

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/questions-over-coventry-city-training-12042449.amp

Edited January 21, 2021 by Miller11

[StevenSK]

2 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Yeah... this caused a lot of questions to be asked at Coventry

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/questions-over-coventry-city-training-12042449.amp

He tried to buy the Ryton training ground land. Fact.

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by StevenSK

[RevidgeBlue]

5 hours ago, Ben Frost said:

Head Groundsman Trevor Wilkin - directly quoted in the Club Statement:

"Ultimately, the first team needed to train, so Ewood, which has undersoil heating, was used as a training facility for two days in the lead up to the FA Cup tie against Doncaster."

"it really was unavoidable on this occasion, as there would not have been enough time for the pitch to drain into the River Darwen, whose levels were already extremely high"

"The weather had also taken its toll on the training ground, with all the pitches frozen, even though they had been covered with the frost sheets."

In other words, the undersoil heating at Ewood works, the drains aren't blocked, and the frost sheets are still at Brockhall.  All of which makes your attack on the club on Tuesday look rather undermined. Or based on statements which you presented as fact when you didn't actually know them to be true.

There is no doubt that the pitch is a mess, and the club has released a comprehensive statement explaining how that has happened, and what they intend to do about it in the short and long term.

I'm not sure why that has triggered you to launch this latest rant against the club, starting off with the words "We can be absolutely certain" but once again based on nothing factual. Perhaps it's because you're a bit embarrassed that your mate Trev has so comprehensively exposed Tuesday's post for what it is.

Other than adopt your usual stance of feverishly defending every move the Club makes right or wrong I really don't know where you're coming from with this post. 

The weather conditions of the last few days are a side issue. The problem lies with the overall state of the pitch which in the words of your friend the groundsman is essentially because the thing as a whole is thirty years old.

Maybe you could therefore attribute the  blame for the state of the pitch two thirds to the Walker Trust and one third to the current owners. The difference though is that the pitch was perfectly playable during the Walker Trust era and has only shown signs of real distress and deterioration in the last three or four years and that's when it should have been sorted.

If we anticipated there would be problems before the season started, why didn't we sort it in summer? I'll give the Club the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe there wasn't time to do anything too substantial last summer with the shorter turn around.

 Actions speak louder than words though and there's no excuse this summer we'll have to see how extensive Waggott's "renovation" is. Pitch technology has moved on enormously in recent years and it must be a bit like comparing a brand new car today to one from 1992. So if it's a root and branch replacement of the infrastructure, drainage, undersoil heating  and top surface then fair enough. If it consists of turning over and resending the top part of the pitch for the umpteenth time then we'll know that the owners aren't really interested in the long term health of the pitch or haven't been asked to sort it out properly.

The latter wouldn't altogether surprise me. As with the state of the stadium, the weeds previously growing inside Ewood Park and the rubbish piling up outside it,  the pitch situation seems to summarise Swag's modus operandi. Instead of showing some pride in the Club, keeping on top of things and preventing problems before they arise the preferred option seems to be to let things slide and only act when things get so ridiculous that people kick off and you are grudgingly shamed into doing something.

If, as we're led to believe, the owners never refuse a reasonable request for funding there's absolutely no need for it. It's third rate and amateur.

[JHRover]

6 hours ago, Ben Frost said:

Head Groundsman Trevor Wilkin - directly quoted in the Club Statement:

"Ultimately, the first team needed to train, so Ewood, which has undersoil heating, was used as a training facility for two days in the lead up to the FA Cup tie against Doncaster."

"it really was unavoidable on this occasion, as there would not have been enough time for the pitch to drain into the River Darwen, whose levels were already extremely high"

"The weather had also taken its toll on the training ground, with all the pitches frozen, even though they had been covered with the frost sheets."

In other words, the undersoil heating at Ewood works, the drains aren't blocked, and the frost sheets are still at Brockhall.  All of which makes your attack on the club on Tuesday look rather undermined. Or based on statements which you presented as fact when you didn't actually know them to be true.

There is no doubt that the pitch is a mess, and the club has released a comprehensive statement explaining how that has happened, and what they intend to do about it in the short and long term.

I'm not sure why that has triggered you to launch this latest rant against the club, starting off with the words "We can be absolutely certain" but once again based on nothing factual. Perhaps it's because you're a bit embarrassed that your mate Trev has so comprehensively exposed Tuesday's post for what it is.

Deary me. Where to begin.

I may have got it wrong on the undersoil heating. But I'd still like to know why if we had the undersoil heating on for as long as has been claimed did we need frost covers at Ewood too?

Do you seriously expect the CEO, club or head groundsman to go on the website and say that the reason the game was off was because we haven't looked after the pitch properly over the last few years? That would probably be curtains for Waggott. This is about as diplomatic as they can put it without saying the game was called off due to our poor pitch.

They haven't said what they intend to do about it in the short or long term. They've said it will be 'renovated' in the summer which could mean anything from a complete rip up and relay through to a reseed and some nice weather for a few weeks. 

The reason I said "we can be absolutely certain" in relation to Waggott's claims of an upcoming renovation is because the club has done the bare minimum renovation work on a relatively miniscule budget now for many years. That's the main reason we are in this mess.

It's been a ticking time bomb that was always going to come back and bite us eventually. There's a reason clubs spend hundreds of thousands or even millions on their pitches and it isn't because they want to chuck money away, it's because it is needed in times like these.

Given the way Waggott has run the club since his arrival anyone seriously expecting a six or seven figure sum to be spent on ripping up the Ewood pitch and relaying it is going to be very disappointed. It would cost seven figures to install a Desso pitch which would solve the issue, which is what Sheffield Wednesday installed to overcome Hillsborough flooding and what Tranmere have had at Prenton Park enabling them to overcome poor weather.

Trev isn't my mate. I've spoken to him on a handful of occasions in my life whilst I've been at Ewood. I know that after nearly 40 years at the club he's good at his job and does his best, and somehow or other has managed to maintain a very good standard pitch for the vast majority of those years until recently?

Very little of the reasons provided by the club actually stand up to much strutiny:
 

1) Wet and wintry conditions over Xmas and the New Year - yet those haven't destroyed the pitches at Morecambe, Tranmere, Accrington, Bolton etc. 

2) Just a 4 week turnaround between the end of last season and the start of this - correct - but what about the other 23 Championship clubs who had the same time constraints? None of them have had to call games off due to their pitch.

Also - why didn't they bring forward works to April and get cracking through May and June when we had no games and fantastic weather? Plenty of time then. As an extreme example Man City relaid their pitch once the season was suspended in March and got it sorted quickly.

3) The drainage into the River Darwen - again as above if we had installed a Desso pitch, for example, the drainage would be much better - as done at Charlton and Sheff Wed where realisation hit home they needed to take drastic and expensive action to remedy it.

Edited January 21, 2021 by JHRover

[DanLad]

Didn't we have an award winning pitch a few years ago? We also had a groundsman who was very highly regarded, but Venky's let him leave (or made him leave?). It was a bizarre decision, presumably made just to cut costs. I remember thinking at the time that we had 99 problems, but the pitch ain't one.

Edited January 22, 2021 by DanLad

[Miker]

2 hours ago, DanLad said:

Didn't we have an award winning pitch a few years ago? We also had a groundsman who was very highly regarded, but Venky's let him leave (or made him leave?). It was a bizarre decision, presumably made just to cut costs. I remember thinking at the time that we had 99 problems, but the pitch ain't one.

We had an award winning pitch under the current groundsman during our League One season as well. Venkys have invested in the pitch multiple times now - both during the years that Steve Patrick was head groundsman and now Trevor Wilkin as well.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2014/may/pitch-perfect/

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/may/ewood-pitch-named-one-of-the-best-in-the-efl/

https://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/sport/18331228.break-might-come-good-time-ewood-park/

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16244470.work-underway-ewood-pitch-rovers-groundstaff-commended/

[StevenSK]

4 hours ago, DanLad said:

Didn't we have an award winning pitch a few years ago? We also had a groundsman who was very highly regarded, but Venky's let him leave (or made him leave?). It was a bizarre decision, presumably made just to cut costs. I remember thinking at the time that we had 99 problems, but the pitch ain't one.

Steve Patrick wasn’t it. I’m sure the rumour was Derek Shaw asked him to do his back garden on his house with club supplies so he did then got sacked for it. 

[Proudtobeblue&white]

20 hours ago, JHRover said:

Deary me. Where to begin.

I may have got it wrong on the undersoil heating. But I'd still like to know why if we had the undersoil heating on for as long as has been claimed did we need frost covers at Ewood too?

Do you seriously expect the CEO, club or head groundsman to go on the website and say that the reason the game was off was because we haven't looked after the pitch properly over the last few years? That would probably be curtains for Waggott. This is about as diplomatic as they can put it without saying the game was called off due to our poor pitch.

They haven't said what they intend to do about it in the short or long term. They've said it will be 'renovated' in the summer which could mean anything from a complete rip up and relay through to a reseed and some nice weather for a few weeks. 

The reason I said "we can be absolutely certain" in relation to Waggott's claims of an upcoming renovation is because the club has done the bare minimum renovation work on a relatively miniscule budget now for many years. That's the main reason we are in this mess.

It's been a ticking time bomb that was always going to come back and bite us eventually. There's a reason clubs spend hundreds of thousands or even millions on their pitches and it isn't because they want to chuck money away, it's because it is needed in times like these.

Given the way Waggott has run the club since his arrival anyone seriously expecting a six or seven figure sum to be spent on ripping up the Ewood pitch and relaying it is going to be very disappointed. It would cost seven figures to install a Desso pitch which would solve the issue, which is what Sheffield Wednesday installed to overcome Hillsborough flooding and what Tranmere have had at Prenton Park enabling them to overcome poor weather.

Trev isn't my mate. I've spoken to him on a handful of occasions in my life whilst I've been at Ewood. I know that after nearly 40 years at the club he's good at his job and does his best, and somehow or other has managed to maintain a very good standard pitch for the vast majority of those years until recently?

Very little of the reasons provided by the club actually stand up to much strutiny:
 

1) Wet and wintry conditions over Xmas and the New Year - yet those haven't destroyed the pitches at Morecambe, Tranmere, Accrington, Bolton etc. 

2) Just a 4 week turnaround between the end of last season and the start of this - correct - but what about the other 23 Championship clubs who had the same time constraints? None of them have had to call games off due to their pitch.

Also - why didn't they bring forward works to April and get cracking through May and June when we had no games and fantastic weather? Plenty of time then. As an extreme example Man City relaid their pitch once the season was suspended in March and got it sorted quickly.

3) The drainage into the River Darwen - again as above if we had installed a Desso pitch, for example, the drainage would be much better - as done at Charlton and Sheff Wed where realisation hit home they needed to take drastic and expensive action to remedy it.

Chorley's pitch looking good v Wolves......as you say no excuse, yet the club bend the truth.

[roversfan99]

I see that Chorley have got their game on tonight.

[rigger]

19 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I see that Chorley have got their game on tonight.

Chorley are desperate for the game to go ahead for the money. We didn't seem bothered. Both clubs have hit their targets.

Edited January 22, 2021 by rigger

[JHRover]

Did anyone else pick up on the big news let slip by the commentator on Sky Sports yesterday? They mentioned that we had been having problems with our pitch this season but that this summer we would be ripping it up and replacing it at a cost of £2 million.

Impressive that they've identified the issue and agreed on such a significant outlay in the space of 4 days.

Or maybe it is just more bull to try and keep people quiet for a few months. 

I'll believe it when I see it.

[only2garners]

The comment matches exactly what Steve Waggott told the Fans Forum in confidence two weeks ago on 11th January I.e. before the Stoke and Swansea games. At the time I don’t think he had full agreement.

The plan is a complete refurbishment not done since 1992, hence the big money.