I bet Steve Welch is feeling a little relieved after last Sunday's FA Cup semi-final between Portsmouth City and Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley?
There is more than a little irony that Steve Welch was sacked after last year's FA Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Arsenal because of intense criticism over the pitch but on the face of it, nothing has changed.
The pitch was again shown up as being unfit for purpose - I understand that the surface had been watered heavily while the deeper root-zone area remained extremely hard; the players were forced into using short studs and as a result, they could not get sufficient penetration in the turf and hold their grip.
Harry Redknapp called the pitch a disgrace; a view shared by Portsmouth manager Avram Grant. It was a slip by Michael Dawson that created the opportunity for Frederic Piquionne to slot home through the legs of Gomes as the flailing Dawson restricted the helpless keeper's view.
Many people, including me, believed that the Football Association made Steve Welch a scapegoat for the pitch despite Steve always maintaining that his advice was ignored during the stadium build: more bizarrely, the FA's contract with the stadium builders Multiplex excluded Steve and his team from touching the pitch until the contract had been handed over.
Whilst the composition of the root-zone has always been contentious, the main issue concerns the way the stadium has been built. The high towering stands blot out the sun and restrict airflow meaning that recovery of the turf, considering Wembley's intense fixture list, just doesn't happen in time and the further battering weakens the sward even more.
The FA are considering relaying the pitch after this weekends rugby league cup final at a cost of over £100,000.
Image: aerial view of Wembley under construction courtesy of Google Maps.
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