Looking over a stripped pitch, Groundsman Steve Kiddy feels confident that the playing surface will be ready to host the pre-season friendly game at Hillsborough against Birmingham City on August 4.

The Stadium was hit hard by the June floods with considerable damage being caused to the lower levels of the ground but with work now underway to both the pitch and surrounding buildings Kiddy speaks exclusively to Wednesday World explaining the progress that has already been made:

"It gives you a lot of confidence when you actually consider what has be happening at this football club, to see grass growing and know that football will be played here. Three weeks ago you could have never envisaged that this work would be going ahead," he said.

Explaining the process involved and the reasons behind the decisions, he added: "We had to remove four centimetres of the existing pitch which we are replacing like for like, with four centimetres of turf. This keeps the levels exactly the same so it won't effect the under soil heating or anything."



Under the supervision of the Owls' groundsman a dedicated team of specialists have been employed by SWFC to start the relaying of the playing surface.

"The lads doing the work have undertaken jobs mid season at Chelsea, Bolton and Manchester United and places like that. With Benfica being the next port of call," Kiddy explained.

With over twenty years service at the Owls under his belt Steve cannot remember having to undertake this kind of operation before.

"Our Pre-Season work is mainly removing the top surface then using seed to lay the new grass and bringing the pitch on from there but obviously on this occasion time is not on our side with games approaching us thick and fast so turfing the pitch is really the only option, not something we would normally do.

"My initial reaction when I saw the flooded arena was total shock.

"Looking at a pitch that you have got ready and prepped up for the new season, knowing you have time on your side and you know exactly what you have to do and when you have to do it, then to suddenly have it snatched away, you start thinking 'What are we going to do?'  Not just on my side but the dressing room, tunnel area, ticket office and shop as well. It has hit the club quite hard so it is just a case of getting your head around things and start moving forward again.



"After the flood water had finally drained away I was pleasantly surprised at the state of the grass underneath. I was expecting a lot more silt to be lying on the surface but the grass actually looked quite healthy. But because of the silt level on top of the grass we were left no option but to relay the pitch.

"With the pitch as it was we wouldn't have gotten through more than a couple of months and we would be always frightened about the first drop of rain as the pitch would become water logged because the water just does not penetrate the silt."

But the good news is, that with repairs underway and going well he is confident the friendly game at Hillsborough scheduled for August 4 against Premiership new boys Birmingham City will be going ahead as planned:

"As far as I am concerned the pitch should be ready for the Birmingham game to go ahead. We still have a lot of work to do on the pitch but it should be ready."The first thing will be, as strange as it sounds, to thin the pitch out because it is a little bit too thick at the moment. Then we will air it to get the roots to penetrate the existing surface and make a good strong area then it is just a case of a fertilizer programme as we would have done anyway on the other surface."