Watched The Damned United at the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Michael Sheen is great, isn't he?

Anyway two questions:

1) What changed in football pitches between the 70s and now to stop them becoming mud baths? I remember asking someone this back when Match of the Seventies was on and there was an answer but I can't remember it. I guess they could train off-pitch all the time now but don't you lose some home advantage by doing that?

2) As a team rises through the leagues, how many players of great skill does it take to bring it up? I guess I mean how different is a team that tops League Two to the team that tops the Premiership three years later? The name's the same but how many players are going to be different? Again, the film really seemed to imply that being a good manager was a lot more about buying in good players than about tactics, but I presume that can't be the case.

Thanks