BILLERICAY Town could be playing their football on a 4G pitch next season.

Owner and manager Glenn Tamplin told the Echo that he had been granted approval to upgrade the AGP Arena pitch in the summer following a season of hardship on grass.

The Isthmian Premier League side saw their game against Staines Town beaten by the weather on Saturday.

And Tamplin, who said on Twitter on Friday night that he thought the game would be played, admitted a 4G surface would be a good option.

“I thought the game would be on, but we had a downpour on Friday night and that has killed us,” he said. “Bearing in mind I spent so much money on the pitch last summer it really is not holding up.

“But I am thinking about installing an artificial surface. I have got permission to make it a 4G pitch next season but am weighing up the costs.

“The 4G surface is better for the players and that will be what I do if I choose to go down that route.

“I am so frustrated with what has happened with this pitch.”

Tamplin also spoke out following his decision to reinstall himself as manager two days after stepping down.

The Town chief quit in charge following the recent FA Trophy exit but, after an appeal from his players, returned to the helm 48 hours later.

And, despite a torrent of online criticism, Tamplin says it was not his ego that brought him back.

“When I drove away from the ground I was done,” he said. “But my expectations as a human being are beyond that of a normal person.

“I expected to win the league by a record amount of points and get to the FA Trophy final. I believed that was possible.

“I felt like I was putting too much pressure on the lads and I was happy to watch it in my leather chair upstairs.

“But the players came back to me and they threw my motto back at me. I say ‘you fall down seven times you get up eight’, and they said I couldn’t step away after this run of form.

“They had a point. I was getting so much stick online with people saying I went back because of my ego but it is my ego that would have kept me away.

“I got a lot of abuse online afterwards but that is what happens with me.

“If I was a loser I would be liked. But because I have more than the average person that goes against me.

“It is the English mentality. If you are successful, people want you to fail. It is disgraceful, but it is what it is.”