Blackpool boss Terry McPhillips believes better pitch will bring better results at Bloomfield Road

Work on the Bloomfield Road surface began last week Picture: BLACKPOOL FC

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The early work will see the top surface removed to take away vegetation and organic matter.

The surface was in a poor condition for much of last season, with McPhillips admitting the Seasiders had to change their style of play because of it.

It had an effect on their home form too – the Seasiders won only eight of their 23 League One games at Bloomfield Road.

Results there were particularly poor in the final few months of the campaign as Pool picked up just three wins in 2019 on home turf.

“It’s really good to see work is now under way,” McPhillips said.

“I had seen some photos of what is being done, but coming into work to see it for myself was good.

“This is progress because this hasn’t happened for a number of years here.

“We’ve normally had to wait for the summer concert to get work done on the pitch and then you can’t take the top off.

“So this is good progress being made here, which is exciting.

“We’re going to have a nice pitch to start with, which hopefully will last a lot longer than it normally does – this season it was around November time when it began to turn.

“I think that with the team we have it helps having a nice pitch.

“The stats for the last two years say we haven’t done as well at home as we have done at the start of the season, so that’s a fact.

“We think there’s a good reason for that – it’s the pitch being in a terrible state.

“It’s really pleasing that we’ll have a good pitch to start with, and hopefully it will last long into the season – February or March time at least but hopefully April and May.”

The problematic south-west corner of the pitch also had additional work done to it last week.

A club statement read: “Extra depth has been removed after continual issues throughout the campaign.

“The area was completely saturated and holding too much water due to some previous returfing that had been done.

“However, all the organic matter and slushy soil that was present has now been stripped and dug out to allow for the problem to be rectified moving forward.”

The new pitch will be ready for Blackpool’s only home pre-season friendly against Championship side Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, July 27.