State of surface is causing chaos
KEITH Hill didn’t raise it in his post-match press conference – but the state of the Crown Oil Arena pitch was something of an elephant in the room.
Given the team’s struggle for form, Hill does not want to be seen making excuses and was quick to acknowledge an improvement in results was his and the players’ responsibility.
But when pressed on the issue of the poor surface, he agreed it was in a sorry state.
“We try to refrain from excuses, but the fact of the matter is it’s not good. It’s causing chaos,” he said.
“There are a lot of problems that need rectifying outside the domain of the matchday performances. The football club, myself and the players are judged on matchday performances and results. But there are a lot of issues at the club which need to be rectified and one of those is the football pitch and training facilities to give us a real opportunity to continue being a very successful League One club.”
Was he reluctant to discuss the issue for fear of handing the players an excuse for their form? Not according to the manager.
“The players are an honest group and they will do everything they can,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s misguided – everyone becomes a football expert, what you should do, what you shouldn’t do. Everybody at the club knows my concerns.
“They knew them at the beginning of the season as they know them at the start of every season, the concerns I have in continually trying to supercede the previous season’s successes.
“That has not changed regardless of the league position we’re in or the form we’re in.
“These are problems that we’ve had for at least the last twenty years. Managers that I had were complaining about the training facilities, but we’re not complaining, we do our best to make the most of the facilities we have and the facilities we borrow.
“But the matchday pitch, you can see what state it is in now and we’ve had plenty of space between games – it’s just that the rain makes such an impact on our pitch and on our playing style.
“But we haven’t got the players to go direct. I’m trying to make an impact with the players I’ve got and the players are too.
“This is my responsibility, I’m not ducking any responsibility because we have had these training facilities and these problems.
“They are getting highlighted now because of the position we are in the league, but it’s just normal for me. What’s not normal is being second from bottom in the league.”