Lennie Lawrence says the board of directors deserve credit for backing both himself and Paul Trollope at what he says is a "difficult time".

The director of football has praised the financial backing given to allow new signings to be made, and for the funds put towards the "serious" work currently being carried out on significantly improving the Memorial Stadium pitch.

The playing surface in particular is something Lennie says is absolutely crucial to the club having a successful 2008/09 season.

"Decent money is being spent on the pitch to get the surface right, and that's crucial for us," Lennie told bristolrovers.co.uk, "We'll see it when it's finished, but it looks as though the board understand that last season, because of the pitch, it was too easy for teams to come and play here.

"We can't deny that we fell away a bit over the last six weeks, but we gave teams the chance to come here, play one up front, and then wait for us to make a mistake or overplay the ball.

"We want a pitch that is suitable for the way we play, we try and pass it and play, and if we want to switch it then we need to be able to do that quickly. But on a pitch with bobbles it takes too long.

"The pitch needs to be good enough to play football, and we believe we've got players with skills in the right positions. If we get the right kind of pitch, we'll get the most out of them, if the pitch is good enough and we don't produce, then that's our problem.

"The season before last our home form was very good, and if we can get back to anything like that then we are going to be in business. I have every confidence that because of the money being spent on it, the pitch will be a lot better than last year."

Although delighted with the money being spent on bolstering the playing surface and the playing squad, Lennie accepts it will add to the pressure on the club having a successful season.

"The goalposts have shifted, and we fancy ourselves a bit now," he said, "We've put ourselves under a bit of pressure, but I think we owe the club that.

"We've got new players coming in, we've kept the players we want to keep, and something serious is being done about the pitch.

"It's been a difficult time, but the board have been totally supportive and without breaching confidences, it hasn't been cheap. The quality of players being brought in is indicative of that, and with the money being spent, rather than just aiming for higher than 16th, we're thinking we might just fancy ourselves."