Sheffield United: The numbers behind training ground refurbishment
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Although the work is unlikely to be completed by the time Paul Heckingbottom’s squad begins its preparations for the new Championship campaign, Bettis told The Star it is scheduled to have finished long before the winter months - when successive United managers have complained the pitches there can become impossible to work on.
The refurbishment programme includes the installation of the same DESSO surfaces which are currently used at Bramall Lane, together with the introduction of undersoil heating and a new drainage system.
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Hide Ad“The issues with the pitches isn’t in the summer,” Bettis said, revealing the project has now received “board approval.” “In the summer they are fine. The issue is in the winter, when they can end up being a lake.
“The new pitches that we’ll be doing, they won’t be ready in all honesty probably for the start of pre-season or the start of the season proper. But the pitches behind those ones, that are also in use, they will be perfect for that time of year anyway.
“The timing (for completion) is, in reality, about a month after the start of the season. It’s about a 10 day lead time, from the sign-off (of the contracts) to the work beginning.”
Heckingbottom, whose predecessors Chris Wilder and Slavisa Jokanovic both expressed concerns about conditions at the Randox Health Academy, recently cited the fact his team were often forced to prepare for games elsewhere as a factor behind the unprecedented number of injuries they suffered last term.
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Hide AdAfter putting the project out to tender, United have spent the past month in talks with at least two contractors identified as being equipped to oversee the overhaul to the satisfaction of both Heckingbottom and owner HRH Prince Abdullah bin Musa’d bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
“We have agreed a price to do the works,” Bettis added. “We have board approval and, right now, there’s a surveyor there doing the nuts and bolts.
“We’re talking about the two main pitches to train on. There’s a slight gradient on them and that will also be removed to virtually nothing. So basically, we are talking about undersoil heating, drainage and getting rid of the slope.”