Anyone who has driven past Noble’s Park in the last week or so will have not failed to see the large mounds of soil that have appeared near the pit lane return on Glencrutchery Road.

They are part of the work, that has recently started, to improve the football pitch at the top corner of the park nearest to St Ninian’s Church.

Previously the home of Douglas Royal before they moved to Ballafletcher, the pitch has more recently hosted Douglas and District and Governor’s Athletic games.

It is the former club, along with custodians of the park Douglas City Council, that have come together to fund a project to level and improve the pitch which has in the past been criticised for its slope and relatively small size.

The Division Two club, which currently plays on the council pitch at Groves Road, has contributed £10,000 towards the project as it aims to return the pitch the club considers its ‘home’ having played there between 2010 and 2021.

As part of the agreement, the pitch won’t be used for TT or Manx Grand Prix activities such as a car park or extension of the fan zone.

Part of the reason for the ambitious move back to Noble’s Park was the lack of permanent training facilities at their current pitch with the team changing in a portable cabin and away teams in Pulrose’s old police station.

Club stalwart Dave Mathieson explained further: ‘We've had a bit of a nomadic existence for the last few years, playing in several places.

‘We've been down at Groves Road for the last few seasons and we were previously at the Bowl the season before that.

‘We played at Noble’s Park for eight years, but there were certain issues with the pitch. Hopefully the work that's getting done from now will resolve all of these issues.

‘We’ve actually been discussion about developing Noble’s Park with Douglas Council since 2018 and so it's been a long old road, but we had to get certain agreements in place to make sure that we were doing the right thing.

‘The changing facilities at the park’s pavilion are fantastic so we can’t wait to get based back up here - we're really excited for the future.’

Mathieson’s fellow committee member Andrew Dossor outlined the scale of the work: ‘The actual gradient that's going to be on this pitch is going to be less than what's at Newcastle’s ground St James's Park.

‘A massive amount of soil is going to be put in and we've been told that down the far end is going to be raised by about two metres.

‘Hopefully by the end of it there'll just be enough [of a slope] for drainage, and it'll be like playing on a wonderful flat grass pitch’.

Initial work includes stripping the existing topsoil, with subsoil being transported from Ballaughton Nursery to the site as part of the pitch enhancement process.

Grass seed will then be sown with the hope it takes over the winter. If all goes to plan, the club be back on the pitch next September, but a more likely date for their first game is the following season.

To help raise funds to cover the £10,000 cost to the club, it is selling virtual squares of the pitch for £25 on its website, douglasanddistrictfc.com

- Listen to the whole interview with Dave and Andrew on this week’s Manx Football Podcast.