GOODISON MAKEOVER

Saturday 24 May 2008, 09:21
by Craig Davies @YourEverton

Goodison Park has been having a makeover this week!

The entirety of Everton’s hallowed turf is being replaced in preparation for next season’s campaign.

A total of 26 games have been played at Goodison this season – the most since the Premier League began - and Head Groundsman Bob Lennon came to the decision that it was time to replace the playing surface.

He told evertonTV: “We’re renovating the whole pitch this year because of all the games that we had over the winter time.

“It’s been quite a wet season for us and all the European games have meant that we’ve come to the agreement that we will reconstruct the whole pitch at Goodison Park."

Bob revealed that thanks to advances in modern technology, it is not just a case of ripping up the current pitch and then relaying new turf.

He explained the amount of thought and techniques that go into creating the perfect surface.

He continued: “It all depends on the weather, where we are in the league and all the stuff like that.

“We take the top surface of grass off the pitch with like a giant plane – which takes the whole pitch off and then we re-level the pitch, add all the soils, add a new irrigation system for the centres and hopefully in the next few weeks we will have a nice green pitch!"

See exclusive, behind the scenes footage of the pitch being re-laid on evertonTV.