Yeah as Brew alluded to no plastic pitches are allowed in the football league, there have been votes about allowing them again but they never get passed. The problem we have is that there is a large layer of clay under the surface of the Shay pitch which does not help with drainage and then the drains themselves are either blocked with concrete or broken due to mistakes been made with the redevelopment years back.

The only solution really is a full strip back which you can imagine could easily run up a cost towards 1m, the other idea would be the 4G pitch which would not be ideal for Town. The other idea would be to build on top of the pitch and raise the level of the pitch which may be doable and then its a must that we went hybrid which I believe is allowed in the football league.

The cheapest option which both clubs would get the best return on would be 4G, although in the playoffs this year, Town are a long way off seeing promotion and without a money man will continue to be minnows in that division. A 4G pitch allows it to become an income stream for both clubs and the stadium owners which is a must for anyone taking on the stadium. Being nearly 1m in a hole to start with is the reason you won't see much uptake in people wanting to think about taking on the Shay.

Its catch 22 when it comes to the pitch at the moment because Town can get some grants which cover a lot of the cost but it also means Town and Fax putting some money, in to the hundreds of thousands, in to the pot for the works. I totally get Fax's stance on this, for them they have a pitch that is perfectly adequate for the use they need and it makes zero sense to spend money on the pitch. Unfortunatley as we saw this season the pitch was already ruined before we stepped foot on it but again it was still fine for Rugby. I don't know what the solution is but maybe Town should stack their fixtures in a way that means as little usage on the pitch as possible through the worst months.

I'll be honest, I really do not want our current BOD running the stadium and think it would be a total disaster but it seems that is the way it is heading and I just wonder if Town would then be forced to stack fixtures etc to protect the pitch while the bare minimum work is continued to be carried out.

Many many years ago there was a terrible patch of the pitch in front of the skircoat, worst than the rest of it and it used to be sheeted seperately to try and protect the area, this was put down to the clay foundations for the speedway track and the pitch having been moved across that way. That was dug out one summer if memory serves correct.

One story that has been around so long it may well be an urban myth is when the East Stand was finally completed, some drainage channels were filled with concrete (probably not on purpose) and the issues have perpetuated ever since.

It appears it is purely a drainage issue as even moderate rainfall can cause issues, a sudden deluge and bigger problems present, anyone remember the game a few years ago that was delayed about 45 minutes due to the south east corner of the ground suddenly been under water following a thunderstorm? I think there was photos of Ed Barber helping brush the water away.

Until the drainage issues are sorted relaying any sort of pitch isn't going to fix things. A hybrid pitch like Siddal's requires good drainage, and even they have had problems with a drain collapsing within a year, and some tears in the hybrid surface.

The delayed match was against Widnes i think. We had to have an extra pint in't København arcade waiting for the downpour to abate.

Maybe we should merge with Bradford, name the club “West’s” based on the geography and look for a site for a nice new ground somewhere in the Shelf / Brighouse area to mitigate any border issues, pool fan base / resources etc etc.

All stadia problems solved, all IMG boxes ticked for both clubs. Super League here we come for us all.

I've said this before, but for one reason or another the Shay simply hasn't worked for Fax. Regardless of what the "official" capacity is, it's a 20k stadium, far too big with 2 stands permanently empty. It'll probably be cheaper starting a new 10k stadium from scratch somewhere on the outskirts, far cheaper to run and more suited to RL.