Johnson’s pitch for new way of playing
LEE Johnson has confirmed Sunderland are planning to re-lay the pitch at the Stadium of Light saying the surface is crucial to the ‘ice hockey’ passing style he wants his side to play.
Only last month - in the wake of the home game against Plymouth Argyle which only went ahead after multiple inspections following heavy rain Johnson called upon the Black Cats to invest in the pitch, saying the money spent on maintaining the surface had ‘dripped and drained away’ in recent years.
Since then, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has completed his takeover at Sunderland and the Swiss billionaireheir is said to be ready to spend £500,000 on a new high-tech pitch and maintenance system similar to the one at Spurs’ new state-of-theart Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Johnson says there have been discussions over laying a new pitch, although he stopped short of saying the work would be carried out this summer.
The Sunderland boss said: “A new pitch is something we have discussed but there are short-term plans and long-term plans and the pound has to stretch across a number of different areas in the club.
“The pitch is one of them and the pitches at the training ground are important as well.
“I am pretty sure we will get it right because we have great groundstaff who have been brilliant so far, topdrawer.
“I have been very impressed with those guys and investing in a new pitch would help them.
“A good pitch is conducive to good, slick, football.
“I always say to the boys ‘I don’t want football, I want ice hockey,’ because that is how fast I want us to move the ball and the pitch can definitely aid that.”
Johnson wants to implement a particular passing style and the condition of the pitch is central to that.
One factor which has been blamed for the condition of Sunderland’s pitch in recent years have been the summer concerts held on it between 2009-16, which returned in 2019, which meant the playing surface did not have the usual break through the summer months to recover.
When the Covid pandemic subsides, Johnson wants concerts to continue at the stadium - but he insists football must take priority. He added: “I think the playing surface is really important. “Again it is something you can control, at home anyway.
“I know the Stadium of Light has been used for some great concerts - and I am looking forward to hopefully getting a freebie at some stage in the future because I miss the music scene - but at the same time we want to play a certain brand of football. there.”
I always say to the boys ‘I don’t want football, I want ice hockey’ because that is how fast I want us to play Cats boss Lee Johnson