IF YOU look at our weather, there’s a very definite pattern at the moment, where we’re getting lots of rain at very specific times, so we get loads of flooding.

I’m stating the obvious but that has a massive effect on grass pitches.

Over the Christmas period, teams really want to make a lot of money because there are lots of local derbies going on, although I know that Swindon v Port Vale isn’t necessarily a local derby.

When I first started playing, my first team was Blackpool and we played against QPR, Oldham and Luton, and they played on what we would now call a hockey pitch.

When you played away from home on what was called astroturf, you just could not get the right footwear, you couldn’t change direction and the ball would just bounce like it was on concrete.

But nowadays, we’ve got these 3G surfaces and it’s getting more and more like playing on grass.

The good thing about these kind surfaces is that if they’re indoors, you can guarantee them but even outdoors, barring biblical proportions, you can play on them are they are very conducive to a passing game.

I’d like to think that, over the course of time, especially if this weather pattern continues, it might be that we see more teams playing on them.

It’s also a great revenue-earner. You can have people paying to come on and play on it from eight o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock at night if it’s floodlit.

I’ve got very close links with Jez Webb, the owner of Swindon Supermarine, and he’s taken a massive leap of faith – after having talked to me – by having the Swindome erected at his own expense.

He’s going to now leave a legacy. I’ve been there a number of times and it is jaw-dropping. It is the best dome and 3G surface I’ve ever seen.

In two weeks’ time, there’s going to be a facility in there where you can have classrooms, a café, a lounge area, a crèche, a treatment studio and a gymnasium. There's changing rooms, toilets and disabled access.

It’s all-singing and all-dancing and Jez Webb has to be applauded for such a brave move, and without doubt, the whole community is going to benefit.