Sheffield United: "Positive" news over Blades' training ground after boss highlighted "major issue"
Paul Heckingbottom says he has had “positive news” about improving Sheffield United’s training pitches, after suggesting their condition has contributed to the Blades’ horror run of injuries so far this season.
Heckingbottom could be without as many as 11 senior first-team players for Wednesday evening’s trip to Blackpool, with John Fleck, Ben Davies and Oli McBurnie the latest to join the list of walking wounded.
Speaking after Saturday’s chastening 4-1 defeat at Coventry City – which Fleck and Davies missed, and McBurnie limped out of with a dead leg – Heckingbottom publicly questioned the state of United’s “terrible” training pitches, revealing his players have not been able to train on them some days and describing them as a “bog”.
Expanding on his comments – which also saw him describe the pitches as “a major issue” that has to be addressed this summer – ahead of the Blackpool game, Heckingbottom added: “Three or four years ago they did the pitches, but it’s not worked. So we need to look at it again and do it comprehensively.
“We’ve had some positive news on that, in terms of contactors coming in and the surface we can put down. When it’s costing this much in salaries out, or contributing I should say, we’ve got to look at it.”
The manager believes that United’s players training on their soft “bog” pitches, and then playing on harder and firmer pitches, is “not good for the muscles”.
“We know it’s a problem and there’s research to back that up, too,” he added.
“There’s been times we haven’t been able to go on the grass and there’s issues for working with players. We’re now looking at the build-up and the continued training regime of really heavy, boggy, slippy pitches.
“We have to change intensity of training. We have to watch what we’re doing, without a doubt.”
Heckingbottom is not the first United manager to express concerns about the state of the Shirecliffe complex. Chris Wilder raised the issue publicly during his time in charge, while his predecessor Slavisa Jokanović was surprised about the standard of facilities when he arrived in the summer.