BURNLEY'S pitch problems are set to be remedied this summer with the laying of a new playing surface at Turf Moor.

The club has invited tenders for a replacement pitch and, if the price is right, the work will go ahead in the close season.

The work would involve removing 500 cubic metres of soil to get rid of a problem layer of stagnant earth which is stifling deep grass root growth.

A fresh base would then be laid and re-seeded. Different methods of breaking down the two inch barrier just below the surface have failed during a three-year plan with the result that the pitch has extensive bare patches and nothing to hold the top together.

Director Clive Holt confirmed: "The programme has not worked and with a pitch consultant we have come to the conclusion, with regret, that we will have to take it all off."

The final go-ahead will depend on price, however, with the project likely to cost a fairly sizeable five figure fee.

"In any football club funds are important and we have to pass funds out to get the best value for money," added Holt.

The state of the pitch has been getting progressively worse and Clarets player-manager Chris Waddle highlighted it after last Saturday's 1-1 draw with Brentford. Groundsman Arthur Bellamy admits he and his two staff are fighting a losing battle to improve the quality of the playing surface.

He said: "There's not a lot we can do. The fact is it's an old pitch.

"It was laid in the 1970s and like everything else, football pitches have a lifespan. If they do 20 years they have done quite well.

"Everybody is getting new pitches laid and that's what we need. We have had a number of options but the main one would be to take the top four inches off to put a new root zone down and re-seed it.

"Blackburn did a few years ago and they had the best pitch in the country last season."

Bellamy, groundsman for 10 years, had no argument with Waddle's assessment, despite the Clarets' excellent home run going into the Brentford game, and admits that the pitch is becoming unplayable in places.

"I feel terribly sorry for the players who are having to play on it but to be fair to them they haven't moaned to me.

"They have done what they can," he added.

With the games coming thick and fast at the moment Bellamy, who said that the new stands and altered air flow have not been a factor, and his team are just doing running repairs.

"I am like a football manager, taking it one game at a time. I try to prepare the pitch for the reserve team like I do the first because they deserve to play on a decent pitch but that's not even entering my head at the moment.

"It's quite upsetting as we feel responsible.

"We are the groundsmen and people sit in the stands and say why don't we do something about it but we can't do anything. We are working our socks off just to get it flat."

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