CRITICISM of the Bury FC's much-maligned playing surface will hopefully be a thing of the past following remedial work that began on Monday.

The Gigg Lane pitch - once rated one of the best in the country - has received bad press for a number of years but now club officials hope the problem will be rectified.

Contractors Ecosolve from Hythe, Kent will be spending around three days on a 'drill and fill' process that will ease the compaction problem that has made life difficult for groundsman Mike Curtis and his staff.

The problem lies about three inches below the surface where the soil becomes compacted and doesn't allow water to penetrate and blocks grass roots.

The 'drill and fill' process involves the surface being drilled every four inches to a depth of a foot, removing the soil and replacing it with a special mixture of kiln-dried sports sand and sportslite.

Sportslite is a porous volvanic material that allows lateral movement between the grass rootzone and releases compaction pressure.

In previous summers the groundstaff have completely removed the top layer of the surface but this close season it has been decided to leave the current surface intact in the hope it becomes better established.

The process has been used to good affect on a number of top sporting venues including St Andrews golf course.

When the Shakers begin playing football on the improved surface it will be in a competition with a new monicker.

Controversial plans to re-name the Football League championship will be put to the vote at the league's annual general meeting next month.

Coca-Cola take over from Nationwide as the Football League's sponsor at the start of next season in a three-year deal worth £15 million.

However, there is sure to be opposition in certain quarters to the sponsors' wishes to re-name the three divisions.

Under their proposals the First Division will be known as the Coca-Cola League Championship, the Second Division the Coca-Cola League Championship One and the Third Division will be renamed Coca-Cola League Championship Two.