State of Throstle Nest revealed for Farsley Celtic fans

USING a drone and a public footpath, the T&A has legally obtained a number of pictures this morning showing the current state of Farsley Celtic’s Throstle Nest ground.

Now officially known as The Citadel, the National League North side have not played there since the end of last season, owing to a proposed relaying of the pitch, with grass out and artificial turf in.

Initially meant to only play their first four home games on the road this season, long delays mean the Celts are nowhere near a return just yet, and are currently groundsharing with Buxton in Derbyshire, to the understandable chagrin of fans.

Farsley released a club statement last night, which we’ll be able to report on in greater depth later this week following a response from the Farsley Celtic Football Club Supporters’ Club.

On the stadium delays specifically, they insisted: “The pitch delays are not the fault of anyone at the club.

“They were unavoidable and totally unforeseen, indeed the engaged civil engineers expressed surprise at what they found.

“Had we known of the issues before we started, we would have delayed the start.

“We have worked hard and diligently to remedy these as quickly as possible, the consequence to the fans we accept have been far from ideal and we apologise profusely for that.

"The pitch renovation is a significant £1m development to secure the clubs long term future, had we not decided to make investment the club would not be moving forwards and it would continue to lose money as it did."

They added: “The next phase of development is scheduled for this week and is "killing the earth", where the ground is neutralised under the pitch to ensure there is no growth under the installation.

“This is one to two days on site and then it's left to "take" so there will be a short period where the site is intentionally left for this to take its course.

“Once this is started, we will again update you.”

But for now, here is the current state of play at Throstle Nest, as of Tuesday, November 12, 2024.

A close up of the pitch from a public footpath. (Image: NQ Staff.) Another close up of the current playing surface at Throstle Nest. (Image: NQ Staff.) Further drone footage of Throstle Nest this morning. (Image: NQ Staff.) A wider angle close up of the ground in its current state this morning. (Image: NQ Staff.) Mud and leaves gathered at Throstle Nest this morning. (Image: NQ Staff.) A view of the corner of the pitch from the public footpath. (Image: NQ Staff).Farsley's next 'home' game was due to be against South Shields on Saturday, November 23, but their opponents have switched the fixtures instead.