The Pitch at Ibrox.

When I spoke to my son about it he believed the pitch to be "hybrid" if so what does this mean in terms of the surface?.
 
You could see our midfield being hampered by the surface on Thursday.

Simple passes on the deck weren’t so simple.
 
Angrybluebear said:
I’m glad someone has brought it up








today



I've seen it worse in the 80s the 90s 00s 10s


it’s not rocket science. Away run about on your back grass when it’s raining try some slide tackles. See what it’s like the next day.

is there a better pitch in Scotland just now ?
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Yes the piggery. All down to the amount of fertiliser on it. B-D B-D
 
It’s terrible but we should see an improvement over the next month. We’ve only got two games on it during March. Come the QF’s, and after the split, we’ll be fine.
 
I thought the pitch on Thursday was in a terrible condition. Looking down most of it was in poor condition but the most embarrassing part was when Royal Antwerp were taking a corner down at the west enclosure. Their player was having difficulty due to the shocking stage of corner area.
 
John MacKenzie said:
Thanks but still mystified as to what a hybrid pitch?.
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I could be wrong, but I believe it’s a essentially a sandwich of

real grass
artificial grass
real grass

Liverpool’s is the prime example, it’s practically like a bowling green but that’s waaaay out of our price range.

The fibres in-bedded in a hybrid pitch allow the pitch to recover quicker, and generally prevents the pitch going off basically.

It makes the ball zip quicker too.

The technology is a lot more complex than that, but I’m trying to explain it in Laymen’s :))
 
Melbbear said:
Admin going to put up that nothing to do with the turf or no sun all that stuff. It’s to do with the water table from the Clyde . When excess rain the water table from the Clyde pushes the water back up. I fortunately with being close to Clyde we suffer for it. Not a lot we can do they have been trying for years to come up with something.
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A sub-air system might help.
 
Ünnëcëssärÿ Ümläüts said:
It’s cold, it’s wet and the sun is low so the grass doesn’t enough sun to grow. I don’t think grass grows properly until the mean temperature is 10 degrees as well.

Not rocket science, we live in Scotland. Is it worse than other years? Not based on the last few years, it’s been awful until April most years.
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We have portable lights that enable grass to grow.

English pitches look in great nick and their weather has not been any worse than ours.

Anfield have got high sided stands which don't allow any natural light to reach the pitch in winter so they use portable lights like ourselves and their pitch looks fantastic.
 
perthtruebluetwo said:
The Inverness pitch is far better looking on TV just now, our pitch is an embarrassment.
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I live in Inverness. The winter hasn't been bad here and there's no where near the same amount of games played on it as Ibrox. I mind last year in February it was terrible rain at Ibrox which called off the livi game.
 
It's disgraceful tbh. There are other pitches in our league that are in much better condition, drainage must be awful or something
 
Angrybluebear said:
I’m glad someone has brought it up








today



I've seen it worse in the 80s the 90s 00s 10s


it’s not rocket science. Away run about on your back grass when it’s raining try some slide tackles. See what it’s like the next day.

is there a better pitch in Scotland just now ?
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Mate, just a couple of seasons ago Stirling Albion's pitch was voted the best in the country.

They probably spend about 1% of what we do.

No excuses at all for Ibrox to be so bad.

BTW, maybe this is a bit over simplistic - but when it's pishing down, could we not just put a cover over it...?
 
I remember in the late 1970s Mick Channon saying that when he played at Ibrox for Southampton in the old Tennent Caledonian Cup ( pre season tournament) our pitch was the best he had ever played on and he included Wembley and Hampden in that. Changed days.
 
Find it fascinating how these things work. This time 2 years ago our pitch was in great condition and I doubt we played any more games on it this season than we did back then. Wonder what's different about it this year?

 
It’s never been the same since we lost the camber a few years back and switching to this new hybrid thing seems to have made it worse instead of better . I remember from my own season ticket 3 rows from the govan front you could see the pitch camber clear as day then when they dug down to add extra seating I had a better view for my the same seat but the pitch was never the same
 
HumpZ said:
DO people not read previous posts before typing a reply??

It's not a hybrid pitch for the 1000th time
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I think it is mate I’m sure I read it , not an expensive one but still hybrid . There was footage either last season or the season before of them laying it , a delayed time film it was really good showed the old pitch being ripped up and new one put in place and lights on it etc . Looked great but didn’t last the test of time
 
What's the benefit of hybrid vs traditional and why do we only have it at the training ground and not the stadium?
 
HumpZ said:
It was installed at the training ground to let the team get used to the difference in firmness levels before it was getting installed at the stadium. It was due to be installed 2 years ago alongside a full replacement of the old rootzone etc but the stadium expansion has delayed it for several years now.

The other reason it's at the training ground is to cope with the daily training sessions.

The hybrid (Stitched) can handle wear and tear a lot better due to the artificial fibres running through it. The rootzone is designed different. The frimness levels on a hybrid are incredible and This is where the big issue at the moment comes from.

The mangement deman we have a pitch which is as firm as the training ground, so The surface gets sealed up before every game to try and match this (Not possible) therefore it's a constant battle to get it draining, growing whilst maintaining a firmness that's not designed for our pitch.
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Thanks for the comprehensive reply.

Do you know if and when it'll be installed at Ibrox?
 
HumpZ said:
It was installed at the training ground to let the team get used to the difference in firmness levels before it was getting installed at the stadium. It was due to be installed 2 years ago alongside a full replacement of the old rootzone etc but the stadium expansion has delayed it for several years now.

The other reason it's at the training ground is to cope with the daily training sessions.

The hybrid (Stitched) can handle wear and tear a lot better due to the artificial fibres running through it. The rootzone is designed different. The frimness levels on a hybrid are incredible and This is where the big issue at the moment comes from.

The mangement deman we have a pitch which is as firm as the training ground, so The surface gets sealed up before every game to try and match this (Not possible) therefore it's a constant battle to get it draining, growing whilst maintaining a firmness that's not designed for our pitch.
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Are you saying the stadium expansion is defo happening ?
 
HumpZ said:
I would hope this summer but it's looking unlikely unless something changing between now and May.
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Is this something fans could help with?

It seems to me that this would be very beneficial to our team as we rise again. The club are always going to understandably focus on personnel and coaching but if we're not getting into the stadium maybe we could put our pie and a pint money into the pitch?
 
I know it's an expensive outlay, but I'd like to see us fork out for the hybrid pitch EVEN IF it needs to be ripped out again for stadium expansion purposes a year later.

Having a good surface is vital and probably just as important as a new signing. The gaffer and the players deserve to be playing on the best surface possible - they've earned that right.
 
It's alright we'll have it sorted for the next home game :shh:
Can we save the concern and tiresome outrage until there comes a point at the end of the season, where we look to be inactive into fixing it. It's like saying why don't we buy a player when the window is shut!
 
HagiJunior said:
We are digging down another ten feet so it’s not going to get an better . I’m not too bothered I think we will get it sorted
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Has this been confirmed? I assumed the pitch wasn't dealt with properly last summer as we were waiting on the extra seats proposal.
 
SouthCoastLoyal said:
With all the billions of pounds there are in football you would think some clever people would have found a cost effective way of maintaining a grass pitch for elite football.

Once the league is wrapped up and we are hopefully still in Europe, as there are no crowd perhaps it could be better to try and play our remaining SPL home games at Hampden or Murrayfield and the European games at Ibrox, the SPL would probably never entertain that, they would expect us to have a decent pitch.
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The pitch issue needs looked at. However, I'd lay off the glue tbf. There's zero probability of us moving our games elsewhere. Absolutely mental.
 
Disco Deejay said:
Over a year, there is actually a fair amount of difference between the Glasgow climate and that in England, both in amount of sunshine and temperature. The rainfall in Glasgow is also greater, but more significantly, it is likely to be a constant drizzle, rather than short heavy bursts.

Have a look at the weather report on tv every night and most nights you will see a big band of rain on the screen, running from bottom left to top right, heading for the west coast of Scotland and missing most of England.

I now live in England and had the air con on today, whilst my neighbour had his hot tub on in his garden. Not exactly the Caribbean, but a pleasant sunny 14 degrees that felt warmer in a south facing garden.

It's not just the rain and lack of sun that affects the Ibrox pitch, its the way the stadium is built and the fact that not a lot wind gets in, to dry out the pitch.

That is part of the reason why they have never filled in the corners at either end of the Main Stand. They need the wind blowing through the stadium to dry out the pitch and the lay out of the stadium means that only a wind coming from the east or west will get to the pitch via the 2 gaps. If it's coming from the north or south, the Main stand & Sandy Jardine stand will block it and the pitch can't dry out, which stunts the growth.
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A bit of sense.
There's other aspects never mentioned.
The height of the growing season is around the time it's dug up and replaced which means it's further weakened to start with.
Comparing one pitch with another, especially one never set foot on and going by TV pictures FFS, is just mental.
Then we have managers wanting pitches overwatered even during games to "make it slicker", without a thought for the surface and then complaining about it later.
Knee slides after a goal should be banned, ripping up the surface.
It's not drastic but someone has to go and repair the ruts when they could be doing something else.
 
HumpZ said:
In regards to the digging down, that is an issue that already has been resolved in the planning. The water table isn't an issue as much as it was when the build happens.
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What kinda time frame we looking at for, if it goes ahead, digging down, putting in the hybrid and adding new seats? How many rows we looking at?
 
If we added £20 to the cost of our ST's that would be about £1m straight away. That would surely help.

I'd happily do that if if meant improving this farcical situation. I'd like to think most ST holders would accept that small levy if it meant we had a proper pitch for our players to play on.

We're just going nowhere with this at the moment.
 
You’ll likely see an improvement soon given the time of year. Seem to remember a tangible difference in the pitch between the Braga and Leverkusen games last season when it was getting a bit of press.
 
I just love how the pitch experts on here don’t like criticism of what is let’s face it an abortion of a playing surface. It’s. Bit like someone talking out against the Union Bears - they don’t like that either :))

The pitch is awful. Embarrassing that we have to get our European opponents to train at our practice ground.
 
HumpZ said:
Maybe if you went back through the pitch threads and read what the actual problem is then you wouldn't post this rubbish.

Big difference between criticism and actually knowing what the problem is and how it can be sorted.
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Any chance you could go back over what the issues are? I appreciate and respect your opinion on this.
 
Watching the man city game, their pitch almost looks artificial, anyone know the ratio of grass to fibre, looks about 80/20 or even more, if we do get a hybrid this summer. then I think we can rule out lowering the pitch for extra seating happening anytime in the near future, this close season will be so short, the time frame even to put in a new pitch is a challenge.
 
HumpZ said:
Far from it, the decision hasn't been made to my knowledge but the board will be relucatant to spend the money on the pitch then decide to go ahead with the expansion and have to do it all over again.

I can only imagine covid hasn't helped the process eithier. Lets hope we make the champions league group stages as finicially the club will be way better off to make these type of decisions.

I do want to make sure that everyones aware that the board have backed Gerrad massively behind the scenes since he arrived. The investment made at the training ground, both inside and out is incredible. They're running the club the correct way and know what's required. As frustrating as the pitch is, the board are well aware but they won't rush into decisions like we have done in the past and throw money away.

The investment will be made when the timing is right.
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Thankyou for that mate it’s refreshing to see how things are going on.
 
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