Brentford away - 29/8/15

[26-10-06]

Just booked a couple of tickets for a few mates, seeing as we don't look like we're going to sell this one out & they fancied a day out!

£11 each on a group save from Reading!

[Holding Out Hope]

Any idea on what we've sold? I know it is festival weekend, but surely even still we should be able to sell it out?

[Stabilo Boss]

In

[Royals-lad14]

Only around 100 tickets left now

[P!ssed Off]

IN x2

[Unbelievable Jeff]

Is the best way to change at Virginia Water as the trainline is suggesting?

[secks]

IN!

[John Smith]

Is the best way to change at Virginia Water as the trainline is suggesting?

Yes it is on the SouthWest line

[WoodleyRoyal]

expect the game to cancelled due to their shit pitch

[jar95]

expect the game to cancelled due to their shit pitch

would not be happy with this! sold my T20 finals day tickets to go to the match, do people genuinely think it may be cancelled?

[Royal_Biscuit]

http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/news/article/brentford-griffin-park-2635410.aspx?

Work on the Griffin Park pitch is continuing with a new Motz pitch due to be laid early next week in time for The Bees Sky Bet Championship fixture with Reading on Saturday 29 August. The Club believe the action is the best way to ensure it is at the right standard for the rest of the 2015/16 season.

The existing surface at Griffin Park has been removed and the Club are in the process of finishing work to the under-soil and making the drainage system compatible, in preparation for the new pitch to be laid.

Operations manager Alan Walsh said: “From start to finish this pitch project should take nine days and I am pleased to say that we are currently ahead of schedule. We have removed the top layer of the pitch and are currently re-grading the levels and preparing with a rootzone carpet layer ensuring the levels are correct. The new surface that we are going to use is Motz turf. We could have re-turfed the pitch with a conventional turf pitch but that runs the risk of needing to be relayed later on in the season subject to weather or wear and tear. Motz turf is much more durable than a normal turf surface and should give the stability and performance required for the rest of the season.

Motz turf pitches are common in heavily used stadiums across the world and have been used at Venues for the 2000 Olympic Games and the 2003 and 2011 Rugby World Cups. They combine natural grass with artificial fibres to improve durability and prevent damage from wear and tear.

“The turf is planned to be laid over a 3 day period from Monday through to Wednesday of next week. We hope that the first-team will be able to have a training session on the pitch on Friday afternoon ahead of the Reading match as Motz turf is usually match-ready 24 hours after it is laid. The contractors are working 14 to 18 hours a day including this weekend, to get the pitch ready for the Reading match. Some fans may see small join lines where the rolls of turf meet at the Reading game but they should not cause performance issues and they should be gone by the time Preston North End visit in September.”

[Barney]

http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/news/article/brentford-griffin-park-2635410.aspx?

Work on the Griffin Park pitch is continuing with a new Motz pitch due to be laid early next week in time for The Bees Sky Bet Championship fixture with Reading on Saturday 29 August. The Club believe the action is the best way to ensure it is at the right standard for the rest of the 2015/16 season.

The existing surface at Griffin Park has been removed and the Club are in the process of finishing work to the under-soil and making the drainage system compatible, in preparation for the new pitch to be laid.

Operations manager Alan Walsh said: “From start to finish this pitch project should take nine days and I am pleased to say that we are currently ahead of schedule. We have removed the top layer of the pitch and are currently re-grading the levels and preparing with a rootzone carpet layer ensuring the levels are correct. The new surface that we are going to use is Motz turf. We could have re-turfed the pitch with a conventional turf pitch but that runs the risk of needing to be relayed later on in the season subject to weather or wear and tear. Motz turf is much more durable than a normal turf surface and should give the stability and performance required for the rest of the season.

Motz turf pitches are common in heavily used stadiums across the world and have been used at Venues for the 2000 Olympic Games and the 2003 and 2011 Rugby World Cups. They combine natural grass with artificial fibres to improve durability and prevent damage from wear and tear.

“The turf is planned to be laid over a 3 day period from Monday through to Wednesday of next week. We hope that the first-team will be able to have a training session on the pitch on Friday afternoon ahead of the Reading match as Motz turf is usually match-ready 24 hours after it is laid. The contractors are working 14 to 18 hours a day including this weekend, to get the pitch ready for the Reading match. Some fans may see small join lines where the rolls of turf meet at the Reading game but they should not cause performance issues and they should be gone by the time Preston North End visit in September.”

This just does not sound good to me. No wonder Clarke wants a league referee to take a look at this prior to Saturday.

[Turns8]

http://www.griffinpark.org/forums/content.php?r=802-New-Pitch.-New-Risks.

The Club today announced that a "New Motz pitch to be laid early next week". GPG Towers immediately put into action its "Go! Team". This forensic investigation squad was tasked with the question "WTF is a Motz pitch when it's at home?"

Our interest was peaked as the Club only referenced the Olympic Games where the field simply gets hit from a great height with a javelin, hammer or discus (a real waste of a perfect playing surface when you think about it), and Rugby Tournaments which, again, don't see much (ahem) "tippy-tappy" smooth running of balls across a perfect surface.

Our immediate investigations led us to our new friend.....Twitter where we found @themotzgroup. We searched through their timeline going back as far as possible before we got bored of looking at grass. Below are a sample of every single sport we found on their timeline:

By now we were getting a little concerned....no we couldn't be the first ever football club to use this technology....or could we? That would be a little reckless we thought. So to put our minds at rest and to find out what football teams used Motz Pitches we decided to make a long-distance phone call to their HQ in Cincinnati, Ohio.

After a few minutes we were put through to Mark, who very proudly told GPG Towers staff that they make mats (with some special ingredients which we didn't write down) in which grass is grown by "growers" and that Brentford FC would be supplied by a "new grower" in Scunthorpe. Mark went on to explain that different types of grass can be inserted into the tray by the grower which will depend on whether it is "warm season" or "cool season". He told us that our grass is being grown at a farm in Scunthorpe. He explained that the grass would be harvested, rolled and transported to Griffin Park and then installed.

But hold on a second, what's this "new grower" business? Well Mark explained this is the first ever pitch of this kind to be installed by this "new grower" - so we have the first such pitch in the UK and the first effort from this grower. GPG Towers went on to ask about the use of the Motz pitch for "soccer". Yes you've guessed it, we are the first professional sports club in the world to use a Motz Pitch for soccer.

Let go through those "firsts" again:

First Professional Soccer Club in the World to use this Technology
First Effort to Produce Pitch from New Grower
First Such Pitch in the United Kingdom (maybe even Europe)

Can you believe that? That all adds-up to a rather large amount of risk.

Now, we are not saying that this is a project doomed to failure. In fact we expect to see a nice surface for Reading, but it's nowhere near guaranteed with all these 'firsts'. And what is the decision making process within the club that sees us take risks such as this? The times for risk were back in May when we had time to fix any errors.

After the most embarrassing episode postponed a home league match, we must have absolute certainty that we will have a playable pitch for the Reading match. We do not have time for anything now expect a solution we know will work 99.9999% of the time. This is a time for "Risk Off", not "Risk On". The club should be implementing the most reliable method in the world of getting a playable pitch for next weekend. So just what are we doing experimenting with a set of "firsts".

In fact it doesn't matter if the new pitch turns out to be the most fantastic pitch in the world, what we seem to have (on the information we have) is a flawed decision making process at our club.

[Pepe the Horseman]

If it's not ready we should get the points. Ridiculous that they've had to postpone a game in August. Same as when we got fcuked over by the Mackems in the Prem.

[handbags_harris]

Not entirely sure the two cases are comparable. Weather conditions in Sunderland were biblical and I doubt any surface in the world would have been able to cope with the surface water that day.

Brentford's pitch however, a shambles. Not quite sure Turns's post leads things to be quite as dramatic as the GPG makes out as it sounds exactly the same as a Desso pitch, which is what the Madejski pitch is. However, all other factors lead me to concern with the new turf supplier and the fact it's the first time this lot have laid a football pitch...

[Platypuss]

If it really had to be done once the season had started why couldn't they wait for the international break?

[WoodleyRoyal]

Not entirely sure the two cases are comparable. Weather conditions in Sunderland were biblical and I doubt any surface in the world would have been able to cope with the surface water that day.

Brentford's pitch however, a shambles. Not quite sure Turns's post leads things to be quite as dramatic as the GPG makes out as it sounds exactly the same as a Desso pitch, which is what the Madejski pitch is. However, all other factors lead me to concern with the new turf supplier and the fact it's the first time this lot have laid a football pitch...

Disagree, i went to sunderaland and stayed in Newcastle the day before the rain wasn't that heavy, and certainly not biblical. Walking over the bridge to stadium and bumping into sunderland fans now heading in the opposite direction, they were as shocked as us and said no way was there enough rain to call the game off. Two reasons that game was called off a Bruce Springsteen concert on the pitch quite close to the opening game. However imo this was just a smoke screen, they had a few injuries that day & new signings Stephen Fletcher and Adam Johnston were not eligible yet. That was the real reason for calling it off.

A few comments for the locals

So many comments. Weather in the NE yesterday was mildly damp - in no way was it torrential/flash flooding/apocalypse. In no way should a premier league team cancel a game because of a waterlogged pitch. It is an appalling way to treat fans who travelled from Reading and Sunderland should make appropriate compensation to them.

Travelled down from Edinburgh with my mate who is a Reading supporter, looking forward to first game at SoL. Yes it was raining and we got a bit wet, but torrential? Never. Has to be a drainage problem

Obviously i am missing a very big point here, but as a multi million pound club, do they not think of covering their pitch overnight/during the day just before the game

Something not quite right here. There is no way this game should have been called off ,persistent but light rain ,not torrential as suggested by the Club the blame clearly lies with the pitch (only relaid 3 weeks ago), the drainage system or both. The FA need to investigate this decision and take the appropriate action.

[John Smith]

If it's not ready we should get the points. Ridiculous that they've had to postpone a game in August. Same as when we got fcuked over by the Mackems in the Prem.

I agree. One game is one thing but this is getting unprofessional now.

With regards to Sunderland, I wasn't there (went up for the rearranged one) but I seem to remember photos of settling water on the pitch on social media?

[sparky10]

In X2

[wally bassoon]

I hope it gets called off as I cant make it on Saturday.

And last year they would not let me in as I was too drunk apparently.