WANDERERS have confirmed their £1million pitch replacement has been put on hold until next season.

Problems arose last season when heavy weather alongside increased usage from rugby league internationals, a carol concert and first team training left Whites boss Ian Evatt describing the playing surface as "awful" by mid-January.

It had been expected that a full pitch re-lay was on the cards for the first time in more than a decade - but that has now been put on hold after the pitch made better-than-expected improvement in March and April last year.

Chief executive Neil Hart also confirmed that no other games will be played at the stadium this season, leaving the playing surface exclusively for first team use.

“I have worked in football for 22 years and this has probably been the busiest summer I have ever seen,” he said. “Obviously the play-off campaign and then straight into the Pink concerts was a really busy back-end to the season. Debunking and de-cladding the stadium after that was a big job and those who saw the concert would have seen the infrastructure was massive, so it took a lot of work.

“We had a heavy refurbishment of the pitch but, being really transparent with the fans, we have delayed the full rebuild for a further 12 months. That is a £1million cap ex job.

“We made a decision between Ian Evatt, myself and the board to push it on 12 months because we felt the pitch had recovered really well after a difficult winter period and after the Pink concert we did invest in it significantly. I think the ground-staff have done a great job and it is looking good. We hope and trust in them that they can maintain that too.

“It is important to say that this season we will only be playing first team fixtures on the stadium pitch. There will be no youth games, no charity games, only first team fixtures to preserve the surface.”

Wanderers have been busy over the last couple of months, with considerable investment made at the club’s training ground at Lostock to improve the quality of training pitches for the first team.

In the stadium, fans will soon see a big difference too, with the installation of two new screens and new digital advertising boards at pitch level and between the first and second tier of the stands.

Hart explained: “Off the pitch we have invested more than £500,000 in the hospitality suites, spent heavily at Lostock on trying to improve the pitches so that Ian does not have the challenges he did last year. We have put gravel slits in, increased drainage on the top two pitches (one and three), we have invested in the match pitch again with Fibre Sand.

“All of this is about moving the club forward.

“There will be a new state-of-the-art pitch-side perimeter board going in and two big screens and a 360 mid-tier ribbon going in as well. The screens and the ribbon won’t be in until the Derby game, but the pitch-side perimeter will be in from the first game against Lincoln.

“There is an awful lot going on – painting, boxes being redone, furniture going in and out, refurb in the hotel as well, and all this is about the board, myself and Ian just wanting to move things forward.

“Also some of the things we forget about, the leaking roof, damage to concourse floors, all that is being addressed as well – me and the facilities team have been working on that. There is loads going on, it has been a really busy summer.”