Award-winning ex-groundsman Alan Ferguson calls on Ipswich Town to spend £700,000 on Portman Road

By Dave Gooderham Friday, June 1, 2012
12:27 PM

IT is time to stump up the cash, Marcus.

Simon Clegg’s reaction

“Alan Ferguson is one of the most experienced groundsmen in the country and I respect his opinion. But the bottom line is that the club doesn’t have £700,000 to spend on the pitch at this moment in time.

It is factored into any promotion to the Premier League. While we are hoping for that eventuality, we still couldn’t do it as soon as we go up, in that first close season, as it would take time to put the plans in place.

Our current thinking is that we would do the work at the end of our first season in the Premier League. It is definitely on our agenda but other things have greater priorities in terms of our funds available.”

That is the message today from the man who made the Portman Road surface the envy of English football.

But Alan Ferguson – Groundsman of the Year an impressive seven times – fears such accolades could be a thing of the past unless Town owner Marcus Evans pays up to £700,000 on a “full reconstruction” of the pitch.

Ferguson, now head groundsman at national football centre St George’s Park, said: “Portman Road is one of the oldest surfaces in the Football League and it is starting to become problematic.

“For my last three years at Ipswich, even in (former chief executive) Derek Bowden’s last year, I pressed the club hard to change Portman Road and they didn’t do it. They said it was a job for when they got back in the Premier League.

“I think a full reconstruction, costing the club £650,000 to £700,000, is probably seven or eight years overdue.”

With manager Paul Jewell repeatedly saying the club now needs to “cut its cloth” accordingly in the transfer market, the expenditure advocated by Ferguson may not sit well with all Ipswich fans.

But the Scot, who spent 12 seasons in Suffolk before joining up with David Sheepshanks at St George’s Park, has warned supporters that more postponements could follow unless serious money is invested.

He added: “I think sadly I had taken Ipswich as far as I could. The new owners, rightly or wrongly, are not from football but they put investment into the club when it needed it.

“But if you are a groundsman at our level, you need to have a constant input financially and you need to be maintaining pitches. I felt we had got to a crossroads.

“Now Marcus Evans needs to make a decision about the pitch, very much so.

“I managed to keep it going but I started to get the odd postponement, though I only had two in 14 years, but my successor had one in his first year.

“The club really need to get behind him and put it right.”

Town fans were left bemused after the February home match against Middlesbrough was abandoned after just 37 minutes due to a frozen pitch – despite a brave effort from new head groundsman Ben Connell.

12 comments

Thanks Jim Bob that was fascinating. Nice to have someone who knows what they are talking about. Perhaps Mr Clegg could consult you, he clearly could do with some guidance.

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Rex Ide

Tuesday, June 5, 2012
What Alan is saying needs to be done, is to dig the pitch out to roughly a metre deep. Usually you dont need to go as far down as this but due to the "unique" nature of the sub-soil at Portman Rd (The pitch sits on top of a heavily compacted, ex-land fill site, which holds a lot of gas and salt, which isnt good for the pitch). Back fill the sub-soil with gravel, and install a new drainage system. There is a system at PR but its effectiveness isnt great due to its age and if your digging the whole pitch out then you might aswell take the whole lot and start from scratch. On top of the gravel to back fill with a pure sand lower-rootzone. Then with 125mm of FibreLastic rootzone (usually around 70% sand and 30% soil mix with artificial fibres to stabilise the surface). And to also install a undersoil heating system. This in itself is problematic because the stadium hasnt got anywhere to put a pumping house with out digging up stands or paths etc. And then seed or re-turf the pitch. Whats been done to portman rd this summer is to fraise mow the surface (top 15mm) This removes any unwanted grass and the desirables grasses regenerate. 120 tonnes of sand was spread on the pitch and it was then verti-drained, working the sand down the holes and into the pitch profile to improve the drainage. And then re-seeded. This was also done last season. Its a fairly standard renovation and is done most years by most professional clubs in the championship and PL. Hope this clears it up.

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Jim-Bob

Monday, June 4, 2012
Thanks for all the advice.

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Rex Ide

Sunday, June 3, 2012
Rex, they are trying to improve the drainage, that's all.

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Kevin Bailey

Sunday, June 3, 2012
clegg spent the money on painting

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mike benham

Saturday, June 2, 2012
More than a little confused Sparticus. A friend showed me photos on her mobile of what appeared to be the pitch being removed on Tuesday night. Also stated that a layer of sand among other things were being laid. Does anyone out there know whats going on?

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Rex Ide

Saturday, June 2, 2012
to add to a previous comment to play good football it needs the ball to be on the pitch if the pitch is not good enough then we know what kind of football follows i do hope im wrong

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peter samuels

Saturday, June 2, 2012
Rex i think Alan means a lot more than just putting a new piece of grass down it suggest to me drainage and under soil heating ,and if as i read it right we wont get it till at least one year in the top tier i have to agree with miguel100 the year 2015 maybe the year.

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peter samuels

Saturday, June 2, 2012
Hm, my problem is Ferguson definitley knew what he was doing. Morgan knew the Ipswich academy. Clegg doesn't seem to have a clue .... very frustrating.

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Paul The Alien

Saturday, June 2, 2012
I would imagine they are just re-seeding, Rex. All clubs do it.... It seems Fergie is suggesting something much more expansive than that. With Sammy Morgan having a slight pop (imo anyway) and now Fergie, along with all the other (admitted) issues and mistakes, I have to ask whether Clegg is doing a good job. All this was never an issue before and I haven't really beenb too fussed with giving Clegg stick, but events over the last couple of years all seem to point to a lot of underlying problems with the running of the club. Lets hope we have a mild winter then, I guess....

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I am Spartacus

Friday, June 1, 2012
Mr Clegg , I.T.F.C will still be waiting for that ( EVENTUALITY ) IN THE YEAR 2015 with a bit of luck

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MIGUEL100

Friday, June 1, 2012
Looks like they listened. The pitch has gone.

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Rex Ide

Friday, June 1, 2012