Video: Head groundsman Michael Merriman on pitch preparation (Credit: Stags Player)
Mansfield Town’s head groundsman is expecting next season’s pitch to be their ‘best ever’ – by laying down ‘sand and dog hairs’.
Michael Merriman said fibre rootzone will be layed which he likened to sand and pet hair.
This morning (Monday May 15) roots from the playing surface at Field Mill were removed before plastic drainage was installed and the pitch levelled.
Michael said: “It’s enormous for Mansfield as it’s the biggest by far we’ve ever spent on the pitch.
“Normally I’m working with what I call a school field, it’s just sand soil, so we’re going up another level with the fibre sand.
“To the naked eye, a lot of people can’t see the lumps and bumps in the pitch but it has been levelled so we should have a nice flat surface – hopefully we won’t have divots come out now.”
Michael has been impressed with the budget he has received to work on the pitch.
He said: “For a club in this league, it’s a massive budget; there will not be many clubs in this division spending what I am this year.
“It’s probably six or seven times more than my previous budgets.
“It gives you a lot of pressure because there’s more expectation to get it right but there’s still no guarantee it will hold, like you can spend a lot of money on a striker but it doesn’t guarantee you goals.
“Manager Steve Evans has been a big help in giving me what I’ve got so thank you to him and we’ll go from there.”
Michael said the work will help the pitch look ‘incredible’ before the start of pre-season.
He said: “Hopefully this will be a lot easier to maintain during the winter months – you don’t know what you’re going to get and nobody can say their pitch will be perfect all season.
“You saw last season the lads went to control the ball a few times and it has jumped up and hit them on the knee because of what we were working with.
“We shouldn’t have that this year and I can’t see why we would, especially as we’re having it all done by professional turf contractors.”
