RODNEY Parade Ltd chief executive Stuart Davies has moved to clarify his reported comments about Newport County AFC and manager Graham Westley.

County are tenants at the ground, which is also used by Newport Gwent Dragons and owners Newport RFC, and have had three matches affected by a waterlogged pitch this season.

A leaked report for the English Football League (EFL) described the current three-way ground-share agreement as “unsustainable.”

And Exiles boss Westley labelled the playing surface “a disgrace” and “an embarrassment” and questioned the level of investment in the drainage system and surface infrastructure from Rodney Parade Ltd.

In response, Davies told BBC Wales Sport last week: “I'm not sure why he [Westley] feels it necessary to go on about it.

“Newport County are bottom of the league and I suggest he focuses on preparing his own side.”

He added: “It costs us more for us to have County playing there than it's worth.

“The estimated cost is worth twice as much as we receive from County each season.”

But Davies, a former Wales international and a one-time BBC rugby pundit, told the Argus: “I was unhappy with the way the BBC did not put out the full story.

“The EFL report makes clear that we are doing all we can to deal with the challenges in front of us and acknowledges that we have used all the resources and techniques available to us in the short term to prepare as good a pitch as possible and we will continue to do that.

“Phase two drainage work was always planned for this summer.

“We won’t know the extent of the work needed until then because we can’t rip up the pitch mid-season.

“But the estimated cost of the work that needs doing is twice as much as we receive from County in one year.”

He added: “I’m not defending the pitch and I understand why he [Westley] is concerned.

“Drainage work at the end of the season will assist but it’s not a long-term solution.”

Davies previously told the Argus that he would like to see a Desso-type hybrid pitch, combining artificial fibres and grass, installed at Rodney Parade.

“You have to look at a Desso-type system like the Liberty Stadium in Swansea,” said the Dragons and Newport chief executive.

“It works there but it’s about a lot more than just the pitch and there are costs of maintaining it.

“Even then it wouldn’t be perfect, because three sides would take its toll even on a Desso, but there is no doubt that it would be a better world for everyone.

“It’s got to be a combined approach because I can say categorically at this moment that Rodney Parade Ltd doesn’t have the funds to lay down a £1million Desso pitch, which is the ball-park figure we have been quoted, and deal with revenue implications thereafter as well.”