This season he has used the pitch at the Stadium of Light - which does have
undersoil heating to keep it free of snow and ice - for training.
The
undersoil heating system was installed at great expense and was due to be fully commissioned this week.
A cost of pounds 180,000 would fully install
undersoil heating and there might be plans for that next summer.
When the stadium was first built from scratch many people wondered why
undersoil heating was not installed at the time, and I believe it was said it would have an adverse effect on the grass used at that time.
We have
undersoil heating but the cost of running it means it's a dilemma to use it or not.
Blues spent more than pounds 300,000 on fitting
undersoil heating in the summer of last year.
On Friday morning it got so cold that even the
undersoil was struggling and the pitch was a wee bit dicey so we went inside.
Sharpness "On Friday it got so cold even the
undersoil heating was struggling and the pitch was a bit dicey.
Although the pitch is protected by
undersoil heating, there could be concerns over the fans travelling to the game given the icy conditions on Teesside.
The pitch has soaked up a lot of water recently and it would need the
undersoil heating on constantly from now until the event finishes to ensure the pitch is not frozen and that would be very costly for us.
Undersoil heating at the Ricoh Arena has been on full blast all week to melt any snow and ice ahead of the eagerly-anticipated Midlands derby which kicks off at 3pm.
However the postponement of Saturday's FA Cup third round encounter with Wolves due to a frozen pitch raised a sore subject that wasn't included on that list of ten points -
undersoil heating.
