PHIL Parkinson certainly put the cat among the pigeons with his very public blast about the Valley Parade pitch.

Or rather, it was more a case of letting the very large elephant out of the room to trample merrily over the flower beds.

The deteriorating condition of the playing surface has been the topic that must never be mentioned. “Difficult” has been the stock description in City circles, for wider consumption at least.

While visiting players and managers have let rip, Parkinson has generally kept his own counsel. That was until about 20 minutes after last week’s slog through the mud against Colchester.

Parkinson was wrong to name individuals – and had no choice but to make amends with Thursday’s apology to the board – but his point had been made.

For any ear-bashing he would have got behind closed doors, and it’s fair to say the meeting on Monday morning was “forceful”, Parkinson will consider it a job well done.

With his managerial stock at the highest water mark after Stamford Bridge, he chose the perfect moment to launch his attack. He was playing the game – and will feel any fall-out from on high was a reasonable price to pay.

Because Parkinson has pushed the pitch to the top of the Valley Parade agenda now. Nobody can pretend that it is not hampering City’s season any longer.

Parkinson will be wary of planting any seed of doubt into the minds in the dressing room. The last thing he wants, especially with six league home defeats on the record so far, is anyone getting jittery about playing on their own patch. Keeping preparations positive will be a test of his managerial acumen.But he also knew it needed saying.

The whys and wherefores of how the pitch got this bad are for another time.

Opposition bosses were muttering their concerns about the way the surface came away even before the wintry weather really kicked in.

The high rainfall of November preceded three successive weekends of home games which denied the pitch the time to recover. The rot had set in.

The snowy blasts since have heavily hampered groundsman Mick Doyle and his efforts to repair the increasing damage – grass obviously cannot grow under the frost covers.

So City now play on a surface that forthcoming FA Cup opponent Gus Poyet tells the national media is “the worst in the country”.

Some might suggest he is getting his excuses in early so should Sunderland suffer the same fate as Chelsea, the Uruguayan can simply point to the conditions as a ready-made reason.

There is no doubt an element of that given the huge significance that the Black Cats are placing on the cup to make amends for their indifferent Premier League form.

His comments about switching the game to the pristine surrounds of the Stadium of Light may have been tongue in cheek but it gave the rent-a-gob radio presenters the perfect ammunition to fire a few cheap shots in City’s direction, including a hysterical demand that they should be booted out of the competition.

Rants like that are what phone-in stations feed on. Stir up a reaction from your audience and the pay-per-minute calls come flooding in.

But unfortunately the Valley Parade pitch is becoming headline news. Whatever Poyet’s motives, there is no escaping the fact that he is right.

So what can be done? The blame game will achieve nothing.

Professional contractors have been in this week. The club hope to invest in new machinery and equipment to give Doyle some of the assistance he needs.

There is talk of small heat lamps to encourage grass growth if that will make a difference. Anything is worth it to try to rescue the pitch from its shocking state of disrepair.

You would imagine more major work will have to be carried out in the post-season. That will come at a considerable cost.

In the meantime, it’s a case of getting by as best they can – even little things like the drier weather will help.

For all Poyet’s posturing, let’s not forget there is another game on it first when MK Dons arrive on Monday night. The Sky cameras showing it live will again highlight the pitch deficiencies to a far wider audience.

The recovery time will be minimal – Sunderland visit six days later and Walsall six days after that. But at least everybody will be pitching in.

Parkinson has made sure of that.