The Pitch

[derick_ipsw]

Leeds boss & a couple of Leeds players have slated the hallowed Portman Road playing surface. Traditionally Town have always had one of the finest playing surfaces in the country....So what is going on?

[bluejacko]

Any reason for not having a easy game I suppose!

[BLUEBLOOD]

Sounds like sour grapes to me.

[herforder]

Total bobbins!

[Bluemike]

The only bloody thing they did do yesterday was pass it around aimlessly, what a complete load of bullcrap.

[Charnwood]

Back on topic, how is the pitch these days and does it still win awards albeit at a lower level than The Premiership.

It never looks as good as it used to but then I only see it on television.

[Bluemike]

We were on topic LOL.

As for the pitch it has never been the same since they went higher with the Churchmans stand, something to do with lack of sunlight etc I believe.

[BLUEBLOOD]

We were on topic LOL.

As for the pitch it has never been the same since they went higher with the Churchmans stand, something to do with lack of sunlight etc I believe.

Easy solution then get rid of the upper Tier Next Season there wont be enough fans to fill 3 sides if MM stays

[marko69]

It's a good thing the Portman Road rugby idea was binned back in 2010.

[number 9]

We were on topic LOL.

As for the pitch it has never been the same since they went higher with the Churchmans stand, something to do with lack of sunlight etc I believe.

Easy solution then get rid of the upper Tier Next Season there wont be enough fans to fill 3 sides if MM stays

We haven't paid off the upper tier yet, so we can't get rid of it! Maybe we can loan it to Brentford? I believe the quality of our pitch was reduced after Alan Ferguson left...I could be wrong.

[Andym]

Probably getting worse now we've started playing the ball on the ground.....

[arana peligrosa]

Unable to provide a link but one of their players has spoken out on social media about it. Here is the item verbatim :

Leeds' Hadi Sacko bemoans Ipswich Town's Portman Road pitch quality

Leeds United winger Hadi Sacko has taken to social media to complain about the quality of the Portman Road pitch during his side's 1 - 1 draw with Ipswich Town.

Leeds were forced to battle back from a Freddie Sears finish to claim a draw in their Championship contest on Saturday with a goal from Stuart Dallas just minutes before half-time earning the away side a point.

The Ipswich pitch was notably in a poor condition during the match and Sacko has indicated he is less than impressed with the quality of the service (I think they meant "surface")

It goes on :

The 22-year old believes that his side had the quality to beat Mick McCarthy's men but feels that a draw is a good result given how disruptive he found the playing surface.

Sacko wrote on Twitter : "A good point taken on a **** pitch after trailing 1 - 0 ... could have been better but let's be satisfied with it. Hope you guys got home well"

"By **** I mean poor or messy.

...........................................

The actual article can be found on Squawka but as mentioned unable to put up a link. Maybe players should spend less time on social media bullshit and concentrate their abilities during game time. As people have mentioned it's little more than a random excuse for Leeds not claiming a victory. All teams will visit stadia throughout a season where the playing conditions are not satisfactory, the majority will simply be quiet about it and accept it's part and package of the game.

Furthermore it was not the end of Leeds based opinion from yesterdays game. One user from their Square Ball fan site went as far as to write :

"It's the time travel that doesn't help - you're going back around 3000 years to that place. They're still searching for fire and waiting for the wheel to be invented. Doesn't help either that they're all six fingered and got webbed feet"

You could add your own derogatory Yorkshire counteract, but moving on from this game now. Poor pitch, whatever the excuses, something of a game to forget and probably at the end of it all, both sets of fans were probably settled on the outcome given league position and recent form.

[Bluemike]

Had the quality to beat us ? The only quality I saw in an attempt to win the game came from players in Blue.

[Shed on tour]

I suppose we could always use all that bullshit by Sacko to try and improve it.

[TODD66]

Good job these 'footballers' never played in the 70's and 80's.

Pitch is currently like a snooker table compared to back in the day!

[ipswichtownNo1]

Pitch has never been the same as when fissons sponsor ipswich.

[arana peligrosa]

Good job these 'footballers' never played in the 70's and 80's.

Pitch is currently like a snooker table compared to back in the day!

Considered this before, some of the say, 'players of today's generation' don't know they're born.

When club sides such as Luton and Queens Park Rangers played on plastic, teams just got on with it. This Sacko kid (at 22 years of age) would be unable to recall such an instance, and would be interesting to glean reaction had he ever been involved at such a time. Look on any old film archive from choice Cup games in the aforementioned 1970's when playing conditions where on occasion sub-standard and resembled a quagmire of epic proportions, and you got to find humor in some of today's complaints. What do players expect anyway ? The field condition to always be in pristine order and unmolested ? As before, little more than excuse / argument for Leeds not picking up victory.

[marko69]

If your descriptive words must be used, and if decades are to be compared, then forget the pitch,......, think the players would rather themselves were left unmolested, as opposed to 70s/80s football in the U.K.

[Tangfastic]

I'm not sure I've ever heard of pitches being molested.

It's possible, I suppose -a naked Barry Bennell rolling around getting frisky with a divot, perhaps.

[marko69]

I'm not sure I've ever heard of pitches being molested.

No one has. Until today.

[Watership Down]

You only have to look at the sandpit that was Tottenhams pitch and West Hams pitch to know what a real grass less pitch looks like. I guess with it all being sand you could get it flat.

[bluepeter]

Baseball ground in the 70's was a nice pitch.