Town groundsman Alan Ferguson says he is confident that the Portman Road pitch will have fully recovered from next week’s P!nk concert in time for the friendly against West Ham on Saturday 31st July. Ferguson and his staff began getting the pitch ready for the Tuesday 29th June gig last Thursday.
Ferguson wrote in his blog for Horticultural Week that despite not receiving all the details as soon as he wanted them, the Portman Road surface should be its usual pristine self in time for the Hammers' pre-season visit: "The frustration with this gig is that key information relating to the stage and other concert infrastructure changed several times during other legs of the tour.
"I like to have final drawings by the end of March at the latest to allow the engineers to carry out vital weight-spread calculations. With Ipswich having a game against West Ham 21 days after the concert, we cannot afford for any of the stage or delay towers to sink into the pitch.”
Ferguson and his team have already begun work on protecting the surface: "Our final prep began last Thursday with the pitch being sprayed with a powerful fungicide. This was tank-mixed with a liquid product to try and de-stress the plant after the cover goes into place. The week will begin with a second spray application.
"This time we will apply a growth regulator to try and maintain as big an air gap between the tip of the leaf and underside of the floor. Because of the quick turnaround back to football, we will for the first time seed the pitch ahead of the floor going into place. My hope is that the micro-climate under the floor will boost the germination of the seed giving us a head start when we come out of the gig after seven days.
"I am confident what we are doing is right but am concerned that the growing time after the concert is short."
The final few remaining tickets to the concert are available here.