Hatters invest £40,000 in their Ely Way training ground

Experienced Hatters groundsman Richard Bird has revealed Luton have spent around £40,000 on improving their Ely Way training ground.

On the investment, he said: “Approaching £40,000 – and this doesn’t include the labour and hire of machinery and other necessary costs.

“We have never carried out this level of renovations at the training ground before.

“It’s fantastic that we have been able to invest in making improvements at the training ground and the players and management will really reap the benefits six months down the line, especially when the weather’s not so kind!”

And Bird was delighted by the investment that he believes will prove particularly beneficial in the winter months.

He said: “This close season we have been fortunate enough to be able to improve our training facilities by carrying out the same renovations carried out to the main pitch up at the training ground.

“This investment will improve the condition of the pitches, especially during the winter months when the training ground has a tendency to be at its worst.

“This is the first time in the 20 years we have been able to do this and credit must go to the board for making this happen.

“It was felt that the training ground was showing the affects of a harsh winter. The pitch was cut up and holding water in places – it certainly wasn’t a pitch conducive for professional footballers.

“We removed the top surface and rotivated and incorporated sand into the soil in order to help draining.

“This also allows us to introduce more preferred grasses to the pitches, rather than basic annual meadow grass which is shallow rooting and prone to cutting up in wet conditions.”

However, the work has been delayed for a variety of reasons, as Bird continued: “We were unable to commence the work at the training ground immediately at the end of the season due to the inclement weather, and the seeding did not take place until the second week of June.

“By this time the soil was unbelievably dry and, coupled with the high winds we had in June, this led to some of the seed, in certain areas, literally being blown away.

“This has meant we have had to reseed affected areas a second time which has, consequently, put back the estimated time of completion by a few weeks.

“It’s important that the grass has rooted properly before it is played on otherwise there will be large areas that will become loose and become displaced.

“Long-term damage could be done, and the last thing we want is to waste the investment that has been made.”

There has also been a giant water tank installed to help with the future irrigation of the pitch.

Bird added: “Apart from the physical renovation of the pitch, we also installed a brand new 25,000-litre storage tank and pump so we can irrigate the pitches more effectively than we have ever been able to do before.

“This was very important because if we sowed the seed and we couldn’t water it properly the grass would wilt and possibly die.

“This was another problem we had. Without an advanced irrigation system we were unable to seed the pitch.

“However, once the training ground is up and running the players should experience a flatter surface to train on and, especially during the winter months, it should drain a lot more freely, reducing the risk of waterlogging.”

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