COVENTRY City head groundsman John Ledwidge says he is over the moon to be up to his neck in it while getting the Ricoh Arena pitch in ship shape for the start of the 2010/11 season.

The green-fingered City fan this week started the process of stripping back the Sky Blues' pitch ready for reseeding a new playing surface which will be ready for business ahead of the start of the new season.

John stripped back around 300 tonnes of earth to return the playing surface to the same condition it was in prior to the Ricoh Arena opening in 2005, something he said he was pleased with so he could start with a clean slate over the summer.

"If someone walked in here now and looked at the pitch they would not believe it but I look at it the way it is now and I see progress," he said.

"We had alot of regrowth underneath the playing surface so we have stripped all of that back and got it back to the levels it was at before the Ricoh Arena opened which is what we wanted.

"As a result we will now get the type of surface which will be better equipped to stand up to the harsher weather like we had in the winter just gone as well as be as tough as we need it to be with the Ricoh being a multi-purpose venue.

"We will start seeing the first blades of grass poking through in a couple of weeks so it won't be looking bare for long and not long after the Pink concert we should see a nice new lush playing surface to start the season with."

Check out the FULL interview plus EXCLUSIVE footage of the pitch on Sky Blues Player NOW!!!