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The game has to be in doubt with the forecast as it is. How good are our covers?

If last winter is anything to go by... fucking amazing.  Pretty sure we were one of the only club's in the leagues to carry on playing during that big freeze in Decemeber.  Not that it worked in our favour...

I'm sure gorundskeeper @MacPhlea can confirm, but I thought covers were good down to -4 ish.

-6 in Highworth last night but not a heavy frost surprisingly. The last time we had a postponement it was foggy all day and the temperature stayed below freezing. Hopefully the sun and frost covers will do the trick.

He's tweeted about snow on Saturday but nothing about the state of the pitch today.

-11 here. Bloody cold!!

It won't provide much of an insight into whether Saturday's match will be on or not, but hey ho!

Rather hot here

Whether the match is on/off will be more to do with what is going on on the roads and stadium.
Pitch maybe perfectly playable but if the ground is full of ice and slippery the club will not risk.
Or a more cynical view could be that Paolo will be happy that his players have a break :D

Just chatted to PDC who didn't give the impression he wanted the game off. He said he thought it would be on as covers are good enough, unless its -20 C or 6 foot of snow the night before !

Game on or off, Camping out Friday night for O***** tickets will be fun for myself then...slightly mental, but well worth the risk to see us give them a good hiding!  :D

As i say its nothing to do with the pitch,more of how the surrounding areas are for supporters and staff.

I was just chatting to PDC, and he seemed distracted by the much touted increase in the price of lettuce

That's weird! I was on the phone again to Bugs Bunny and he kept asking about the chances of the Burton match being frozen out.

Boys could do with a rest tbh!!

Or maybe not:


http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/01022012/63/sturrock-slams-sluggish-shrimpers.html

Met Office now saying we could see 5cm's of snow on Saturday, and it should reach Swindon by 3pm!!!

Getting home to London should be fun after the game then.....

"Town manager Paolo Di Canio will be live from The County Ground on Sky Sports News at 2.25pm this afternoon... #stfc"

From official twitter...

I've just turned Sky Player on.

It better be something exciting.

His first answer will be "what is chesterfield?"

Just switched on.. Does anyone know what it's about?

No mention of it "coming up" after this break.

On now.

That was ace.

I fail to see how anyone could not love that man.

He is fucking ace.

Looks like I'm working now, which maybe a good thing

Seems Kee and Richards may not be fit for Burton. Can only be good news for us.

Deffo. They're the 2 i'm worried about. They've got the goals in them.

Two of their left backs may be out too, Ritchie should have a field day!

I do hope the game goes ahead then!

The footy pitch in Highworth is pretty rock solid, plus it's going to be -7 tonight. The covers are certainly going to be tested.

At the moment there is no snow forecast for swindon temps to stay around 0 though so I dont see problem

Official Tweet:

PITCH UPDATE: The County Ground playing surface has been covered all week in the build-up to Saturday's game against Burton Albion. However, due to the recent low temperatures groundstaff are currently exploring all options to ensure the game can go ahead.

Press talk for probably off imo.

...or, the pitch is frozen under the covers and we're trying all we can to thaw it out.

PITCH UPDATE: This morning (Friday) #stfc have called upon an outside company to defrost areas of the playing surface with a heated dome

If they have had the covers on the pitch all week it should have ensured that areas of the pitch didn't freeze.

Cheltenhams game is off. Massive incentive to do what it takes to ensure this game is on imo

I agree. We have enough fixture congestion as it is coming up.

I can't see it being on. Usually when the pitch is frozen under the covers, that's it. Those heater things never seem to help.

Also, I think Burton will be VERY happy to get this called off.

No it shouldn't.  Have you seen the covers?  They're not six-feet deep of insulating material, they're relatively flimsy and only help at somewhere around -4 C or -5 C. 

if there was no chance the club wouldn't be wasting time on the domes

The majority of the pitch should be ok by kick off tomorrow, I think the worse areas will be where the side stands are  where there is no sunlight which is why they've bought in the heater domes

It would be lovely to go top of the league tomorrow, with Cheltenham's game being off.

Does anybody actually know how bad the pitch is and how effective the heaters are likely to be? McPhlea?!

Don't like the sound of this...I fear the game will be called off...great if covers work, but then what about the areas in and around the ground...Health and Safety will be having a field day getting these games called off this weekend!

Fixtures in the lowers are being postponed left, right and centre.

I didn't realise it was that bad down there. It's chilly here upon Tyne but not postponement chilly.

7 Games called off in our league.

On the bright side, if our game goes ahead and we win, we're top of the league :)

Last year virtually the only game that went ahead in league 1 was us v Sheff Wedensday at home. We won as well! So the pitch covers must be pretty good?

Can't believe new grounds haven't got undersoil heating. Is it very expensive ??

That was the weekend of the snow, of which we received very little! Frozen pitches due to sub-zero temperatures are a different matter I'm afraid.

official twitter are asking fans of other teams to pop to the cg if their games have been called off. must be confident

It's bone dry here in Swindon - unless we get rain/snow and then it freezes, I can't see that being a problem.

We could really do with it being on, don't need any more midweek fixtures.

The temperatures being forecast for tonight worry me though.

Temperatures forecasted tonight in Swindon aren't expected to be as low as last night  but will still be around -3c mark.

The only problem is temperatures tomorrow won't get much above 0c all day according to report

It's not just the condition of the pitch, there is snow forecast for 3 pm tomorrow.

Getting home could be fun.

True especially as it's meant to rain too so the rain & slow will probably make the roads quite slushy if the snow settles

Or icy as hell. Not gonna rise much above freezing.

Yeah you are probably right Michael Fish

BBC says snow not due to 6pm with the temp at 0c then 1c at around 9pm. Rain isn't forcecast with the snow until midnight.

Wheres MacPhlea when we need some information  :)

Asda have got the sledges out, so snow must be on the way.

Snood weather tomorrow mate.

Can we get the orange ball out!

Its not even that cold? well I dont think so anyway and I've been out and about today.

I guess the issues is less about the general temperature and more about the areas of the pitch that are constantly in the shadows.

I can assure you it is.

- 8 c when I set off today.

I was out walking at 6am and didnt think it was that cold, very surprised when someone said it was -7c.

It's not cold. When I was in Finland it was -32. That's cold! The inside of your nose freezes in about 2 seconds.

They said on points west they are spending 10k to try and get the game on. Hope it works

10K fucking hell.

How much would it cost to fit undersoil heating in the close season this summer ?

Is it ridiculously expensive ? I only ask because I see Wycombe have it.

Over £250k...

How's the pitch looking?

It's not very humid that's why it doesn't feel as cold, believe me I've just sat outside and it's fucking freezing (and I don't normally feel it!!)

Probably not worth it just to lose 1 game to the weather every 3-4 years or so. Or is it?

hard and dry... which in sexual terms isn't normally compatible!!!

Not going to make it tomorrow - a mate is taking the boys and using my ticket.

Roll on Tuesday night.

Have they got the blowers going yet?

Floodlights were alll on earlier so they must be working on something - hope it's on, we win and go top.
 ;D

I was confident earlier but macphlea doesn't sound so optomistic now.

Fingers crossed it will be ok then.

Trust me we are doing our best to get the game on - IF it doesn't go ahead then then it won't be for the want of trying believe me...

I suppose they wont know until the morning if the blowers have thawed out the pitch.

the flood lights actually make a difference to the temperature on the ground (radiated heat)

Could you take the hot air from the forum ?

What is your gut feeling MacPhlea

Mac, even if the club doesn't go ahead. Thanks for the effort, means a lot that the club and people like you make such a big effort for a game to go ahead whilst other clubs are happy to let there games get abandoned.

I think it's great - and a very positive sign - that we're making such effort to get the game on.  That said, I'll be very surprised if it does go ahead.  It's -6°C in Swindon right now, with the temperature forecast to fall further before the morning.  Very impressive if we manage it.

Tough call - it's not going to get above 2 degrees tomorrow - as long as the covers work and the sun shines we should be lucky - big credit to the club for investment in kit to get it on...

Quote to be fair much of the credit needs to go to the  staff who are there through the night - I'll be there in the morning to help get the covers off and will tweet updates as we go...

Thanks to you and your team for all of your efforts.  Fingers crossed the game goes ahead!

Yep,great effort by all,sadly the sun hasn't got his hat on this morning yet.