That’s because a huge tank-like machine has been put to work to give Wolves one of the best playing surfaces in football – by stitching synthetic grass into the roots of the more natural product..

The machine – a Desso Grassmaster – has numerous special needles at either end going into the turf as it, slowly, travels across the surface.

A far cry from days gone by where someone in a pair wellies with a garden fork would be trusted to keep a pitch in tip-top shape.

Wolves head groundsman Wayne Lumbard was on hand to give the full low-down on the Grassmaster – and how the work should prove a big help as new boss Nuno Espirito Santo looks to get the side firing again.

There has been two machines on the Molineux pitch, with work set to finish tomorrow.

Many clubs now have ‘hybrid grass’ pitches thanks to the Grassmaster, including the likes of Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Swansea City.

Wembley’s immaculate pitch is also a result of the machines, as is England’s St George’s Park training base in Staffordshire and the San Siro shared by Milan rivals AC and Inter in Italy.

Lumbard said: “It has been around, from the very first type, for around 16 or 17 years now.

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“I would say 80 to 90 per cent of the Premier League have got it. It has been around for about 12-13 years in the Championship but not everybody has got it because of the cost of it.”

Unsurprisingly, given the sheer size of the Grassmaster machine and the level of detail the machine works to, it does not come cheap.

The Grassmaster injects 20 million artificial turf fibres in the natural grass mat, which leads to the grass roots intertwining with the 20cm-deep injected artificial fibres.

The result is a high-tech, stable pitch that can take three times as much playing than a solely natural grass pitch. Lumbard insists that the work can result in forking out millions of pounds, but that is if major works including undersoil heating and drainage are carried out.

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Wolves did a major renovation in 2010, and this time the work is purely on maintaining a high-quality playing surface – costing a six-figure sum.

“It’s in the hundreds of thousands. If you have a full construction with the undersoil heating and the drainage, you can be looking at £1million or more,” said Lumbard.

“We haven’t spent that as we did our major work back in 2010 – we had all drainage brand new, everything from the foundations to the grass on top.

“It is the best sort of hybrid that you can get and it guarantees a quality surface for years afterwards.

“The needles weave 10 inches beneath the surface, and leaves two inches of artificial fibres above the surface. These needles cover every two centimetres of the pitch.

“Over the whole pitch, it leaves three per cent of artificial fibres and then 97 per cent is then overseeded with natural grass.

“It stops it cutting up and divoting, everything sort of comes together.”

While the process does involve artificial fibres, it must be stressed the end result is nothing like an artificial 3G or 4G pitch.

The artificial fibres reinforce the natural grass, not replace it.

Villa are a prime example of how the Desso Grassmaster provides a top-notch surface.

They won last season’s Football League Grounds Team of the Season award for the Championship – and their pitch is 11 years old.

The process is carried out by a team of Desso experts, and Lumbard said: “The machines are like a mini-digger, with the needles at either end.

“It comes almost fully assembled, apart from a tent that goes around it for health and safety reasons.

“They are driven by remote control.

“The lads are working 20 hours out of 24 every day – there are 20 million artificial turf fibres so it’s not a small process, by any stretch of the imagination.”

On maintenance, Lumbard added: “The renovations take place in May to keep the playing surface in top shape.

“We just take the top layer off, you are only talking about six or seven millimetres, and then put it back. Job done.

“You treat the pitch exactly the same as you would with any other grass pitch.”