New Valley pitch will help Charlton Athletic play game in boss Dean Holden’s desired fashion

Dean Holden has talked about the importance of The Valley pitch being relaid this summer so that Charlton Athletic can play in the style he wants.

The Addicks only have one home friendly, against Aberdeen on July 29, due to the work going on at their SE7 home.

And Holden admits that Charlton had to adapt their approach in the second half of the 2022-23 campaign because of the playing surface.

“I was told our pitch suffered the most due to the Bristol Rovers game,” he told the South London Press. “It was probably going to be called off and then they pulled covers off – the pitch got a lot of damage then.

“When I came in at Christmas the remit was to stay in the division. I remember one of the first games and the ball landed right near where I stand and it plugged – like when a golfball goes in a bunker. Corey Blackett-Taylor went to control it on his chest and the ball plugged.

“That (the playing surface) forms part of the style. We need to be more proactive, you can’t play out from the back when the pitch doesn’t help you. We still want to be a really attacking, front-foot team next season – but the pitch is important. You don’t want anything to take away from the way you want to play.

“There is a lot of cost gone into that and we’re renovating the pitch at the training ground. It was nearly four weeks before we were able to get a full, 11v11 pitch size when I got this job – we were literally working on half a pitch because of the rain that came in. It was nobody’s fault – just that the conditions were terrible.

“A lot of money and infrastructure has gone into the training ground because that is where we live and where we spend 12-hour days through pre-season. It’s important that is right.

“I’m grateful to Thomas (Sandgaard) and the club for putting that amount of money in to get it right for us.”