SAINTS groundsman Danny Silvestri has eased concerns about the appearance of the pitch at St Mary's during the recent home friendlies.

The Saints groundstaff are battling with a return of Grey leaf spot disease, leading to a yellowing or paling of the leaf blades and spots or lesions.

Saints play their first home match of the 2024/25 Premier League season on Saturday, August 24, when they welcome Nottingham Forest. 

Silvestri insists the grounds team are backed by Saints manager Russell Martin and that the pitch is good to play on - despite the appearance.

On social media platform X, Silvestri said: "Simply put, the GLS disease, which will never leave now we have it, came back again with the weather as a contributor.

"We've just raked out the dead, non-recoverable plants and overseeded - we've learnt a lot from previous years, but have to deal with it again.

"We've raked the worst of the dead grass and removed it. We overseeded pre-friendlies and post-match and hope to see signs of new seedlings.

"We have had experiences where they can die off too. Anyone at the games will notice it still plays very well, just looks terrible."

Silvestri continued: "Our understanding is that as a fungal spore-spreading disease, it's always there, but if the conditions are favourable for it, it can strike.

"The humid and occasionally wet weather has contributed, but unlike Athlete's Foot, there's no cure yet. It's extremely disheartening after all our hard work!

"Over the years we've adjusted our practices to try to cope, but we have been backed by the club and Russell and the coaches have been very patient."