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In recent years we have become used to returning to Griffin Park after a summer break and seeing our proud old ground bathed in sunshine with a deliciously green carpet of a pitch… a playing surface that even seemed immaculate on ‘invasion inspection’ right at the end of the season… Or at least in better nic than the current one.

So, to hear Marinus describe the new pitch, as “a disaster” comes as quite a shock, and as a distinct worry. The two home matches played so far, against Stoke City and Ipswich Town, have seen big divots carved and the sandy base-layer exposed from even fairly low impact contact… it really does beg the question as to whether it is in fact borderline unplayable and dangerous?

Marinus made some serious points in his post match comments, and suggested that Boreham Wood’s surface is superior to ours now, so it would only be natural if the players and management team have discussed their injury fears. And from what we hear, the Jersey Road training pitches aren’t quite up to scratch yet either.

Bees’ CEO, Mark Devlin, has used his Twitter feed to express his own concerns, and has said he will use his notes in Tuesday’s match programme to better inform people about the situation (why it can’t go on the club website straight away we’re not sure). His Tweets suggest that the pitch could be re-turfed and the contractors are aware of the club’s anger.

We are sure the club will be trying to rectify the situation, but to have a pitch fit to host Championship football, and to do so safely, I would have thought was a basic requirement for a football club. Could we see fixture cancellations or away team complaints to the match officials?

We also obviously hope that no player gets injured as a result of the pitch not being adequately prepared to start the season.