Proud Marcus nominated for pitch award (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Proud Marcus nominated for pitch award
6:00am Friday 8th March 2013 in STFC News By Sam Morshead
Marcus Cassidy
MARCUS Cassidy has said winning the League One Pitch of the Year gong would be like lifting the FA Cup, after it was announced that the Swindon Town groundsman has made the final three of this year’s award.
Cassidy and his team have produced consistently excellent playing surfaces at the County Ground this season, in spite of horrendous and erratic weather patterns, and his pitch has rightly been nominated as one of the top three in the division by referee and opposing managers.
Ratings will continue until the end of the season, whereupon the pitch with the best average will be revealed.
Cassidy said: “It’s really good, personally and professionally. It’s testament to what the club has invested in the pitch over the last five seasons since the last board came in so I’m over the moon.
“It’s sort of like winning the FA Cup from a groundsman’s point of view so it’s really good professionally and personally.
“Each game the away team’s manager and the referee give the pitch a mark out of five and at this time of the year the top three go through to the final.
“Our average up until January was 4.02 out of five and the league average was 3.70 so we’re quite a way up there.
“It’s great. I can’t really describe it, I’m just over the moon. If we win it it’s really good for the CV, it’s good for the new owners to come in and realise we’ve got a really good pitch and it’s good for the players. The team want to play football and they need a good pitch to do that.”
Comments(11)
umpcah
says...
7:43am Fri 8 Mar 13
old town robin
says...
8:03am Fri 8 Mar 13
When I turn up on Saturday as always I will look at the pitch and wonder just how Marcus and his team do it. I haven't travelled to many away games but if someone that has can tell me of another club whose pitch compares or runs even close to ours, I would like to know who it is, because all I've seen on the telly is mud heaps and two of the biggest clubs Sheffield and Coventry are up there with the worse.
London Red
says...
8:26am Fri 8 Mar 13
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I doubt they give out many 5 or high 4 ratings as that is perfection - which no one will have at any level
.
What would be interesting is does the same scale get used in the Premierdhip and how we compare to that
.
Don't talk about your CV Marcus - we don't want you going anywhere!
Blazing Riff
says...
8:39am Fri 8 Mar 13
London Red wrote:It actually says 4.02 in the report which is even worse if correct!
We may not have dipped below 4 - as it could mean each game is 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3 which could average out at 4.2
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I doubt they give out many 5 or high 4 ratings as that is perfection - which no one will have at any level
.
What would be interesting is does the same scale get used in the Premierdhip and how we compare to that
.
Don't talk about your CV Marcus - we don't want you going anywhere!
Stilloyal
says...
9:22am Fri 8 Mar 13
4.02 out of a possible 5 is very good, the average for our league is 3.7. I would like to see what the likes of Colchester, Tranmere and a few others actually achieved , can't be more than 2.5 surely !
Since 1950
says...
9:27am Fri 8 Mar 13
I do have one concern about the future though. Marcus has had the ptch pretty much to himself in the close seasons. If there are plans in the future for events at the ground during the summer, wil we still enjoy this fantastic surface in coming seasons?
Well done Marcus!
TheDukeOfBanbury
says...
11:13am Fri 8 Mar 13
I owe you big time. The thought of spending the day with the Mrs or watching the Town against Shrewsbury was down to you Mate.
Having seen most away games this season I have yet to see a better pitch, so good for you.
Interested who the competition are.
Custodian
says...
12:36pm Fri 8 Mar 13
London Red
says...
4:22pm Fri 8 Mar 13
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The board know Football is our main activity and the pitch is vital to this
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It appears the assumption is that the 6 concerts will be strung over a long period which will impact the close season pitch work
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Could they not have 3 acts perfroming 2 nights each over a week or a fortnight?
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That would be 6 concerts but not impact the pitch work at all - as it is not dug up the day after the season finishes - it is usually a few weeks to a month later before anything happens
old town robin
says...
6:34pm Fri 8 Mar 13
perth red says...
6:13am Fri 8 Mar 13