Sir Alex Ferguson has laid in to the poor quality of the Wembley pitch after losing both Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen to injuries following playing on it.
“I think Wembley’s a difficult pitch,” said Ferguson. “I thought a horse show had been on it by the time I went on it. It reminded me of a ploughed field. I couldn’t believe the players had actually played on it.”
Our manager isn’t alone in criticising the poor playing conditions at the national stadium though.
What have other managers said about it?
“I thought it looked very spongy and a poor playing surface – not in a way that it was all bobbles and divots but it just looked as if it was very soft, spongy and quite slow at times,” David Moyes said after winning at Wembley in last season’s semi-final.
Arsene Wenger: “It is really embarrassing. When you see how much this stadium has cost and you still can’t get a proper football pitch. Somebody must give an explanation.”
Slaven Bilic: “The pitch here is not good, it is not the condition which Wembley used to have and is known for. The stadium and this game really deserves a better pitch. The top looks soft, but underneath it is hard, it is very slippery, like ice.”
Rupa chief executive Tony Dempsey: “From discussions I’ve had it was very, very unstable under foot. We’re concerned from an occupational health and safety point of view that our members may be asked to play on surfaces that are unstable. The employers are the Australian Rugby Union and as such they have a duty of care to ensure safe playing surfaces for the players. It is something definitely worth exploring.”
The FA are now set to fork out £90,000 to relay the pitch for the tenth time in three years, which is incredible when considering how few games are played here. The sooner the pitch is sorted, and players stop getting injured as a result of playing there, the better!
Man Utd News 24/7
martin oneill said he’d understand the state of the pitch if there had of been a rock concert on the night before the match.
the fa need to get their heads out of their fucking arses
Aston Villa’s James Milner also described it as “one of the worst pitches you play on all year”.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8553124.stm
I dont know much about these things, but could the fact that there are very few games in any sport played there have a negative effect? Maybe having people playing/training etc would help bed the turf down more?
As i say i know nothing about this kind of thing i dont even have a garden so its just a guess really!
But its ridiculous that we spend so much on a national stadium and now nobody wants to play there!
Remember when we used to get excited about going to Wembley?
Old Trafford>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Wembley. All England home games should be played at old trafford
You can count on the FA clowns to find newer ways to fuck it up….ridiculous fools!
why would u play all england home games at old trafford? old trafford is the home of united not england. The FA need to stop holding shitty show pieces on there and fucking sort the pitch out its not gunna help having gary barlow prancing around on a stage in a leotard or having shite american football played there. The FA – wot a carnival of cunts
@Dave_pistol
Because a country plays its national games at the bestground in the country and i feel Old Trafford is the best in England. Emirates possibly comes closest
800 million for Wembley and they cant get the pitch sorted.
no mate a national team plays at the national stadium not the best stadium, i agree OT is better than that southern shit hole that is wembley but OT belongs to united, fuck england
@Dave_pistol
Oh, is it that way?. I thought it isnt necessary that a country should play its games at the national stadium.
Anways, thanks for correcting me there
£800m for that! Its amazing how people spend money in this country I tell ya…
@aig
you should’ve nipped down to soho a few years ago and told them your views, u might’ve saved em a few hundred mil!
£800 million and they let cows graze on there during the week!!
Awful pitch, I read somewhere it’s now being dug up for the tenth time – that’s appalling!
I know we do not have the best pitch in the Premier League but as we have a very old stadium there are factors which are against the groundsmen which they can’t do anything about.
Wemberlee should have been designed in a way to benefit the pitch at all times, it’s in a shocking state!
I’m not a groundsman myself but I bet my arse that there’s not enough oxygen getting to the pitch because of the immense bowl Wembley is!