Gillingham chairman Paul Scally believes a hybrid grass pitch could be the way forward.

Hybird pitches are used by the Premier League’s leading clubs, as well as at Wembley Stadium, and come with a £1million price tag.

Pitches are made of real grass but reinforced with artificial turf fibres.

Gillingham’s pitch was only re-laid in the summer but Mr Scally hopes to be able to save up and replace the surface with something able to cope better with the English weather.

He said: “I’m not in favour of a fully artificial pitch. I understand there are strong commercial benefits attached, but I do think we need to start trying to budget for a grass/fibre pitch of natural grass but with plastic fibres included, such as teams in the Premier League and others like Bristol City in the Football League play on.

“I believe the cost is in the region of £1m, including all the maintenance equipment required, so it’s a huge investment and one we can’t afford right now, but certainly something we need to consider going forward.”

Mr Scally said he was “stunned” to see the state of Bradford City’s pitch during their recent televised game against MK Dons.

“(It) resembled something out of the sixties,” he said, commenting in his programme notes at the weekend. “The type we used to watch players such as George Best ply their trade upon.

“I know (Bradford boss) Phil Parkinson is not happy about the surface as indeed you would expect given the way many teams like to play football today, and indeed the surface at Peterborough was not good, albeit not as bad as their northern colleagues.

“It made me think about the debate on artificial pitches again."