CITY will pay a “significant six-figure sum” to get the Valley Parade pitch back up to scratch for next season.

Work to upgrade the much-maligned playing surface and put in a new drainage system will begin on May 8 – providing they are not in the play-offs.

If they are, the firm involved are also doing pitch renovations at City’s Woodhouse Grove training ground so they would start that first.

But the club are aiming for the Valley Parade project to be finished in time to unveil at the final friendly in pre-season.

Operations and stadium manager Paula Watson predicted fans will see a “massive difference” in a pitch that has come in for mounting criticism.

She said: “We have quoted £1 million in the past – and that’s what it would cost if we were to go for Premier League standard. That would involve undersoil heating, desso hybrid pitch and a brand new irrigation system.

“The work we’re carrying out is on the advice of two pitch consultants. It’s still a significant six-figure sum investment but it’s one appropriate to League One and Championship budgets.

“The experts are telling us it’s going to much improve the quality of this pitch.”

FIFA and UEFA-approved pitch consultant Richard Hayden will oversee the work – and remain at the club for next season to ensure they are doing things right.

City believe Valley Parade’s long-running drainage issues will be solved by replacing the primary drains, which are 45cm below the surface. The existing set-up has been in place for 31 years – and tests showed they are now operating at zero capacity.

Watson added: “A lot of people have questioned ‘isn’t this what we’ve always done.’

“But all they have targeted are the secondary drains, the gravel bands in the top layer of the pitch. These drains haven’t been replaced or repaired since 1987.

“Lots of work has been done in the last 10 to 15 years on the top-level drains. But if the deeper ones aren’t working, we’ve just masked the issue.

“Unless we did a full excavation of the pitch, we really don’t know what’s underneath them. But anything under there is at least a metre down so this won’t be affected.

“It will take three weeks to put in the new drainage system and fibre sand and, weather dependent, five to eight weeks to get growth of the pitch.

“We are hoping to showcase the new pitch with a friendly in the summer.”

The decision to go ahead with a major revamp follows two months of talks with prospective companies after the Bingley-based Sports Turf Research Institute carried out an in-depth survey to confirm the reasons behind the pitch deterioration.

“It’s not been a snap decision based on our latest postponed game,” said Watson. “It is a significant investment.

“The work will be guaranteed for about 10 years but the technology we’ve got under the pitch now has lasted 30 years. The technology in what we are putting in is massively improved on that.

“I guess the owners have thought that they need it to serve us until we are in the Premier League, when you would have to change it to meet the criteria.

“Fans may question why we haven’t gone the whole hog (and pay £1 million) but nobody would at this level. You do not get the return for your money.

“It’s just lovely to get the project over the line and the fans should see a massive improvement in that pitch next year.”

Meanwhile, City’s postponed home match with Walsall has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 1 (7.45pm).