Gas Monkey Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 Been a bit unsure re synthetic pitches but now wondering whether McD, if we are to stay here, needs one given what's happened past few seasons. On balance I think I would favour the move now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edstar101 Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 Never. Hate watching football on artificial surfaces Born2Bru and Wendy Saints 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The ghost of Jim Morton Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 It's a balance thing. How shit does our pitch have to get before it starts to affect our performances. I would say as shit as it is now..As much as I am a traditionalist, I think the time has come and the technology is there. It would also be yet another revenue stream because the pitch could be rented out 6 days a week as well. I am with GM on this one.. The Kinross Saint 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainstand Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 It would signal the end for mclean and possibly davidson who have both had problems which can be aggregated by astro. I think the new astro surfaces are getting g better all the time. We are now seeing rugby moving to astro aswell with Glasgow looking to install it. Personally think the hybrid version is the way forward but very expensive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 I have always been against it but looking at the state of our pitch almost every year, I'm coming round to the idea. The pitch is an absolute disgrace this season. Full stop. The weather has been dreadful and that's obviously caused it, but it is definitely effecting our performances. In our last 5 home games, we've scored once and the players and management use the pitch as excuse as well. In reality it might be as much a psychological thing, but it's definitely a factor in our awful home run. We have one player who categorically can't play on these pitches (Maclean) though, and another who you worry wouldn't take to it either (Davidson). We would definitely lose Maclean (which we likely will at some point over the next 2 or 3 years anyway) and we'd have to take the financial hit of installing it as well. On balance, I think we should go for it tbh. For whatever reason, our pitch always ends up bumpy or without grass. We play worse as a result and goals generally dry up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cagey Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 I don't think the pitch was even very good in summer. I am sure there were a free comments about it looking OK but it was lumpy & bumpy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honest Saints Fan Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 Yes but only when MacLean leaves. 541ntees 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 No. Time will tell when those who have plastic revert back to grass. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. Born2Bru 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheYellowBox Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 Yes, but not quite yet. Maybe the next generation, 5g?, which you assume would be another step forward.Part of the problem with the current pitch is the weather, but surely playing u20 games on it too must take its toll.suppose it will come down to finances. If we loose revenue from called off games and have to keep reseeding relaying it every few years, a decision will have to be made about artificial.As a massive aside, can anyone else see a situation that with the new road and opening up to the west of Perth, that we move from McD in the medium term? Land value of McD must be going up, along with increasing maintenance costs.if so, maybe that would present some innovative opportunities re pitch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_Beatson Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 It's getting to the stage where our pitch is in a catastrophic state every year from about late November on-getting the the embarrassing state it was yesterday and staying like that til early spring when the grass starts to grow again.i reckon it is sub standard for at least 50% of our games a season these days. It certainly helped utterly ruin the game as a spectacle yesterday, and didn't help last week either.If we could get a grass surface that would be in an acceptable state at this time of year I'd not even contemplate a change. That seems to be impossible these days, however, so I'm leaning towards at least trying a synthetic surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheYellowBox Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 Out of interest, anyone know how much those lamps cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ex-montrosesaintee Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 How do other clubs still have decent grass pitches then? Dundee isn't far from Perth and they have two playable pitches. In the Gr£tna era, Motherwell's pitch was unplayable for the season the shared and the one after, and now it's about the best in the league, with the exception of Celtic Park. Maybe it's about time we looked at the staff looking after it and asked some questions? Just a thought. Andy, The Kinross Saint, Cagey and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David123 Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 Motherwell now have heat lamps, I'd be happy did saints to invest in them rather than synthetic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 We had a thread on it around this time last year with a poll that ended up pretty even for/ against it.My first choice by a long way would be to invest more in keeping our grass pitch in far better condition. If the club can't afford the upkeep on an ongoing basis, then maybe a good quality artificial pitch for a few years is the way forward.I'm not sure how much community use it would get, as there's quite a few full size Astros in Perth that would be much cheaper. It would save on having to hire other clubs' grounds for u20 matches etc.Yesterday was a really poor quality game and the pitch was a massive factor in that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
541ntees Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 the thought of playing in that stadium mmmmmmmmmmmm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 How do other clubs still have decent grass pitches then? Dundee isn't far from Perth and they have two playable pitches. In the Gr£tna era, Motherwell's pitch was unplayable for the season the shared and the one after, and now it's about the best in the league, with the exception of Celtic Park. Maybe it's about time we looked at the staff looking after it and asked some questions? Just a thought.where ya been? Dens is knackered. They can't get the water to drain hence double call off of their Scottish Cup game in the space of a few days when most pitches are all playable. We have water sprinklers, but ya wonder if we need better drainage... modern drainage would sort it all out. David123 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Center Half Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 As I said previously I saw a bit of the Sheffield Wednesday game on the TV on Saturday and was a bit surprised/disappointed in the state of the pitch after they laid a new hybrid pitch close to costing £1.6M start to finish, so maybe it is not the complete answer ( It was better than our pitch ill grant you that), Fir park I'm not convinced it is one of the best in Scotland, Our last visit it certainly looked great from our end and considering the amount of rain it had taken on the night, but after watching the highlights and the camera from the centre area it still looked a bit bare, But yes still better than our pitch at the minute. Drainage is okay at MacDiarmid as it has been re done a couple of times and this is why they always need to keep it watered a lot as the moisture disappears quickly of the grass surface making the surface slow (Personally its the players that need a bit of speeding up no the pitch) I think the high ratio of sand in the base has something to do with it but better guys than me are involved in the design of theses pitches. however I have never seen much grass on a Beach?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honest Saints Fan Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 How do other clubs still have decent grass pitches then? Dundee isn't far from Perth and they have two playable pitches. In the Gr£tna era, Motherwell's pitch was unplayable for the season the shared and the one after, and now it's about the best in the league, with the exception of Celtic Park. Maybe it's about time we looked at the staff looking after it and asked some questions? Just a thought.I think we have two full time members of staff working on the pitch with pretty shite resources. Probably the worst in the Premiership so no I don't think we should be looking at the staff,p. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintJet Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 How do other clubs still have decent grass pitches then? Dundee isn't far from Perth and they have two playable pitches. In the Gr£tna era, Motherwell's pitch was unplayable for the season the shared and the one after, and now it's about the best in the league, with the exception of Celtic Park. Maybe it's about time we looked at the staff looking after it and asked some questions? Just a thought.You stole my thunder. I was at Fir park in December and their pitch looked outstanding even with the monsoon just prior.I would like some accountability and some decent comment from the club to explain why our pitch is the worst in the premier league. I'm not an agronomist but there is a root problem (no pun intended) - that pitch needs lifting and re sod.Plastic pitches - NO! south inch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 (edited) I'm sure the groundsman and his assistant do the best they can with the materials and resources they're given. They've been hellishly unlucky with the weather - the Dundee game in November, where it snowed during the match and everyone was falling all over the place - seems to have sped up the process massively this season.Can anyone shed any light on why our pitch is so bumpy all the time? Even last season, when the pitch didn't look too bad to the naked eye, the ball was bobbling around all over the place as the season went on. Is it sand that causes that? I know that contributed to the disaster of a pitch we had a few years ago - the year we scored 24 league goals - and you have to wonder if that will affect the drainage again further down the line. Edited January 18, 2016 by Kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiangsu Sainty Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 Was it worse v Killie than v Hearts? I can barely imagine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 I'd say it's getting worse with every passing game. It was horrendous yesterday, even before kick off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueheaven Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 Pretty sure Tommy is dead against artificial pitches (going by comments in previous interviews), so can't see it happening any time soon.Personally I think Saints should save themselves a lot of hassle every winter and go for it (once Macca has retired, obviously). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
south inch Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 I would like some accountability and some decent comment from the club to explain why our pitch is the worst in the premier league. I'm not an agronomist but there is a root problem (no pun intended) - that pitch needs lifting and re sod. First class point, its about time Saints issued a full statement (not just a few lines on Twitter) about the pitch, what the specific problems are etc. Fans deserve to be kept in the picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ScottMann Posted January 18, 2016 Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 Correct. I thought they'd relayed it two or three times at least to rectify problems from the USH, drainage and it not being relayed properly once. To still have major problems with it shows something just isn't right. Maybe we've been doing it all on the cheap and we got what we paid for of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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