Millers Groundsman Dave Fellowes gets the AESSEAL New York Stadium pitch shortlisted...
Rotherham United’s Dave Fellowes has been nominated for the Sky Bet Championship Groundsman of the Year award.The pitch at AESSEAL New York Stadium has been shortlisted as one of the top three in the division and Fellowes, who is the man behind the greenery at the Millers’ home, was pleasantly surprised to receive the nomination:
“I never thought we’d get nominated this season, even though we have in the last two seasons,” he admitted.
“It’s very nice to get credit from all areas and we just do our best so when we get the praise it really makes your job worthwhile.
“To be recognised in the Championship where most of the clubs are ex-Premier League with a lot bigger resources is fantastic and we’re really happy with it.
“If you look at some of the pitches that are out there then I thought they would have been up there and we would have been lucky to come 8th or 9th. You get great satisfaction looking at the calibre of the clubs we’ve been up against.”
The shortlist is based on a combination of match reports from referees and marks awarded by away managers upon visiting the stadium which are averaged out over the season to produce the final results:
“I think it’s really creditable to be nominated in the top three because you’re getting recognition from the people who come and play on it. They must be good judges of a pitch because they play in different places week in week out.”
The Millers are now in a three way competition involving two of their Sky Bet Championship rivals, but are unaware which duo are providing the opposition:
“We don’t know who the other clubs that have been nominated are so we’ll just be putting in all our efforts over the next three weeks to make sure we get the pitch the best we can for the inspection."