The Anonymous Widower

Gareth Southgate’s Cunning Plan

This article on The Times is entitled Imported Wembley Turf Gave England The Edge In Penalty Shootout.

This is the sub-heading.

Seed from home was used to create full-size pitch at the team’s training ground in Germany.

These three paragraphs give more detail.

A combination of psychological preparation and penalty-kick data analysis has been touted as the secret to England’s recent shootout successes.

After the Three Lions triumphed against Switzerland, however, another factor was hailed for helping them reach the Euro 2024 semi-finals. Gareth Southgate’s squad spent the last few weeks perfecting penalties on Wembley grass shipped to their training camp in Germany.

The Times understands that the pitch in Blankenhain was seeded in April with the turf used in London. Those close to the team believe the Wembley-grade grass helped to propel the players through the knockout stages and Saturday’s shoot-out.

I have had further thoughts.

The Size Of The Replica Pitch

So for England to have built a replica pitch, the same size as Wembley, could be clever idea if you were playing all your matches there.

The pitch at Wembley is 105 x 69 metres.

These are the pitch sizes in the EURO 2024 stadia.

• The Olympic stadium pitch in Berlin is 105 x 68 metres.
• The Borussia Dortmund pitch is 105 x 68 metres.
• The Allianz Arena in Munich is is 105 x 68 metres.
• The Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen is 105 x 68 metres.
• The Hamburg Stadium is 105 x 68 metres.
• The Stuttgart Arena is 105 x 68 metres.
• The Frankfurt Arena is 105 x 68 metres.
• The Dusseldorf Arena is 105 x 68 metres.
• The Cologne Stadium is 105 x 68 metres.
• The Leipzig Stadium is 105 x 68 metres.

The Germans seem to have a one size fits all rule for pitches.

All would fit into England’s replica Wembley pitch, if you drew the touchlines in by a metre.

You might even setup the replica Wembley, so that pitch furniture like dug-outs were in the correct place for the next stadium, England would use.

England would certainly get good value from their replica Wembley.

I wonder how many countries have their own full-size replica pitch in EURO 2024?

It would be a valuable training aid.

An Ipswich Connection?

Consider.

• Portman Road has always been an immaculate playing surface.
• Ipswich groundsmen have had a connection to a major overseas tournament before.

I wonder, if the FA asked Ipswich to help, as they are one of the best at creating pitches.

Use Of Replica Pitches In Domestic Leagues

If replica pitches can work in International football, they must work in domestic football.

But I’ve never heard of anything like it being tried.

Kieran McKenna is an innovative manager with a degree in sports science from Loughborough University.

• Is he using a similar same-size pitch trick at Ipswich?
• The pitch at Portman Road is 10 x 75 metres.
• Is the training pitch at Ipswich, exactly the same as the match pitch at Portman Road?

If ot os, could this explain, Ipswich’s rise of two divisions in two seasons?

Last season in the Championship, Ipswich won 16 Home games and 13 Away games.

Practice on a replica pitch might explain the better Home success.

Premier League Pitch Sizes

This page on Football Fancast gives all the sizes for 2023/24 and all except these are 105 x 68 metres.

• Everton
• Chelsea
• Liverpool
• Sheffield United
• Crystal Palace
• Luton Town
• Fulham

The differences from the 105 x 68 metres, is generally only a few metres.

Conclusion

It looks to me, that Gareth Southgate, Kieran McKenna and some of the Ipswich groundsmen have stitched together an idea in a country pub, over a couple of pints of real ale.

July 8, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Sport | Euro 2024, Football, Gareth Southgate, Ipswich Town, Wembley