Van Gaal Pleased With New Training Pitches

Louis van Gaal believes the three new training pitches he has installed at the Aon Training Complex, which are duplicates of the Old Trafford playing surface, could be a big factor in helping Manchester United to continue improving.

One of the first things van Gaal did after arriving as manager last summer was take a closer look at all the facilities on offer at United's state-of-the-art training ground. While highly impressed with what he saw, the Dutchman requested an important change to three of the pitches used by the first-team squad.

Aon Training Complex head groudsman Joe Pemberton and his team have since worked tirelessly over the last few months to transform those training pitches into Old Trafford replicas and van Gaal is delighted with the results.

"Our [recent] preparations have been helped by the fact that the players are now able to train on our three new Desso GrassMaster pitches which have been installed at the Aon Training Complex," explained the boss in his United Review programme notes.

"These pitches are exactly the same specification as the pitch at Old Trafford, because part of the process is to replicate the conditions we have at the stadium into our training sessions.

"Our head groundsman at the training ground, Joe Pemberton, and his team have worked very hard during the season to ensure there was no disruption to our training schedules and the result is unbelievable."

Van Gaal also took time out to congratulate Old Trafford head groundsman and overall grounds manager Tony Sinclair on his team's special award earlier this week.

"Tony is responsible for all of our sites and has done a tremendous job along with his teams at the stadium and training ground," added the manager.

"This week it was announced that we were joint winners, along with Arsenal, of the Barclays Premier League Grounds Team of the Season. This is a big achievement and my congratulations go to Tony and his team.

"It is deserved recognition for the hard work and dedication all of our grounds staff have shown in making sure we have the best possible playing surface. They have certainly played their part in our home form being so strong this season."