Charlton Live calculated last night that it would take fans holding up 4,212 umbrellas to protect the pitch. It is, of course, rather embarrassing to have one match abandoned and another delayed, albeit it we are at the foot of a steep hill.
The Dome cover we had in the Premiership days has gone as has The Whale/ Blotter. All The Valley has for protection is frost covers. It is being claimed that the pitch budget has been reduced over the last four seasons with particularly heavy cuts over the last two years.
The pitch has the top taken off it and re -seeded every season but it is thought that with the reduced budget they can only afford to take off the bare minimum whereas Premiership days they would dig deep and take all the silt etc. out. Hence, the pitch does not drain as well as it used to.
Apparently there has also been some concrete filling done outside the stadium on the north side, which seems to have impacted on the drainage of the playing surface, particularly on the East Stand side.
4 comments:
I'm informed by a reliable source that the owners have pencilled-in the installation of a new drainage system at the end of the season that should deal with most wet weather situations next season.
Once again praise must be given to Colin Powell and his groundstaff who worked from 8am until kick -off to ensure the game went on, another brilliant effort that the fans of both clubs should applaud.
How about some crowd funding to move it along? Lots of supporters know how to use social media to make this happen.
part from being at the base of a hill the pitch is below the level of the thames so the underlying water table is quite high
A 'reliable source' from an anonymous poster? Sounds super-legit!
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