Steve Cooper: Liberty Stadium work was needed to make Swansea City pitch fair
- Published
Swansea's old pitch appeared to be cutting up badly during the game against Barnsley on 19 December
Steve Cooper says Swansea City needed to relay their pitch to preserve the "integrity" of the Championship.
The Liberty Stadium's new surface will be used for the first time when Swansea host Reading on Wednesday.
Head coach Cooper says the Swans have done the right thing by replacing their pitch mid-season because of "an issue" with the playing surface.
"This is a high-profile league. It gets watched by millions and millions around the world," Cooper said.
"There are obviously massive prizes at stake and for the integrity of the league, you need to be playing on fair surfaces.
"The club in my opinion made a really positive decision to make a change and hopefully the rewards are there, both on the pitch and for the image of the football club."
Swansea have indicated the previous Liberty pitch was hit by disease in the autumn.
The Welsh club have also pointed to changes to the scheduling of the last two seasons caused by coronavirus as well as an exceptionally wet October, as factors which help explain their pitch problems.
Swansea's 2-0 win over Barnsley on 19 December was the final game on the old surface, with tractors moving in straight after the final whistle to start work.
Cooper hopes the resurfacing work will pay off.
"It's amazing what they have done in terms of getting it down as quick as they have," he added.
"Obviously we haven't played on it yet. Let's see how the game goes, but I am sure everyone's fairly confident that it's going to play well and hopefully it will.
"Fingers crossed for everybody, because everyone's trying to do the right thing, that it ends being a real positive step forward and it's a pitch worthy of the league we play in."