There isn't going to be much of a break for Clive Mountford, the stadium manager and ground safety officer at Molineux. In fact he says that this is the busiest time of the year for him.
The ground is far from deserted over the break with office and shop staff hard at work along with the ticket office staff who are coping with the early influx of people wishing to renew their season tickets. Elsewhere in the ground, work is progressing on the pitch as efforts are made to improve the drainage that caused so many problems in the winter, and the Jack Harris Stand is undergoing a face lift. But there are many safety aspects being examined and tested in readiness for the new season and as Clive is quick to point out, there is a time schedule to meet. Clive, who has been doing his job for ten years, laughs and says that he hates the summer and that this is the only time of the year that he earns some money. Work on the stadium began within 24 hours of the final game of last season, against Bradford. And, with the first pre-season friendly scheduled to take place at Molineux on 20th July, Clive knows that there is little time to waste. "Every stand has to be painted every six years," he says. "At the moment we are doing the Jack Harris Stand at quite a considerable cost. The machinery to lift the painters up to the roof costs £1,200 a week alone. "On the Monday after the season finishes I have to apply for a safety certificate which means that we can operate the stadium from the start of next season. Without the certificate we're not allowed to let the public in. "It takes seven or eight weeks for the work to be done. Generators in the John Ireland and Billy Wright Stands have to be serviced, all the turnstiles have to be checked and maintained, water treatment and thirty lightening conductors have to be checked, and that's nothing to do with someone who conducts a piece of fast music! "The barriers have to be tested, the turnstile computer system that counts people into the stadium has to be tested and certified - fire extingushers and stewards' radios all have to be tested and certified along with emergency lighting and the PA system, and each stand has its own fire alarm. "All that work has to be done by the 1st July when the local authority issue a safety certificate. I can't open the ground until we get one."