Chairman’s update: Pitch

As some of you may be aware there have been some issues with the laying of our pitch……….These issues relate to the historical use of the site, and its impact on the ground beneath. Unfortunately the impacts of this weren’t detectable until we dug down to begin works.

There have been a number of causes for the delays; The nature of the issue requires specialist individuals and companies to resolve. These types of companies are few and far between for projects of this scale and nature. This is also their busiest time of the year, and the standard solutions for this type of issue that you would use on normal builds such as housing won’t work in this instance due to the location of the pitch in relation to our site boundaries and the fans viewing areas.

We have frustratingly been in the hands of third party contractors, who to them we are just another job, but for us this is imperative. Three weeks ago I agreed terms and signed a contract for the works on our site to start, awaiting their confirmation of a start date, which I was promised would be in the next 5-7 days. However due to an issue on the job before ours they have been delayed in coming back to me with that start date which they have now done.

Their on-site activity to resolve our issue is seven days, due to the delay they have agreed to work through the weekend to help us catch up on time. They will be on site w/c 23rd September, so we will get the site back on the 1st of October. If they stick to this date and complete the works on time I will get my guys on site that day and they will work days, evenings and weekends to get the project done which should get us finished well in time for the Spennymoor game.

Inbetween now and their commencement date on the 23rd they will be double checking the on-site readings, and will also be doing an additional survey for us in preparation for the floodlights planning application which will be being worked on and submitted once the pitch is completed.

The league are fully aware of all events and have been very co-operative with us to date.
They allowed us to switch a number of home games to away games, but going forwards (including the Leamington game) we have to hire out alternative venues and play them as home games. While disappointing in terms of club finance, fans wanting to watch us play at home and asking fans to travel is unfortunately a short term pain we are going to have to deal with.

But once the pitch is down it will benefit the club for the next decade, so I have to be positive about the situation and say a few extra weeks damage to my wallet and frustration in the bigger picture is a small price to pay.

As mentioned in a previous post, this process hasn’t been easy, and is already hugely over budget and way behind time, but this is the reality of large scale construction and we will just have to accept this and see it through as the changes it will make to our club are significant and will continue to be for years to come.

Once the pitch works are underway much of the other site improvements will get underway in tandem. Some of these haven’t started yet as we are sharing resources and labour with the pitch works.

However as discussed we have carried out essential works in the club house with our new drinks provider, Primo drinks and Molson Coors. Our cellar works and drinks dispensing systems are now fully operational, and we have upgraded the heating and other essential services. Sky sports will be back on in the club house, and we have an upgraded wifi system.

I am back now fully in the fold of the club after a difficult few weeks at home, more determined and driven than ever to push everything as hard as I can. You will see in my later statement that we have made some significant additions to our boardroom and management team that I believe will take us to the next level and beyond.