“Like many clubs across the UK we are still faced with huge economic pressures, compounded by the recession ”


Alan Ferguson, Head Groundsman, Ipswich Town FC


If circumstances conspire to place you in such a precarious position then who better to have on your side than Alan Ferguson, Head Groundsman at Ipswich Town. “We have has always aimed for quality, whether buying players or providing training facilities,” said Alan. “The UK was notoriously slow in providing high standard training facilities for the young, especially compared with Europe. I wanted to be a part of something here that strive to create facilities which would benefit generations of Ipswich footballers to come. So, when I joined the club in June 1996, part of my remit was to help the club realise its long term ambition of developing a quality training centre.”


Alan joined the club following an


apprenticeship at St Andrews and further career development at Bathgate Golf Club and Glasgow Rangers. He has twice been awarded the IOG Groundsman of the Year award (in 1998 and 2004) as well as holding the title of


Groundsman of the Year in both Premier and Football leagues five times each.


“Bobby Robson was a visionary and hugely instrumental in introducing and encouraging youth training, not just at Ipswich but as an ethos throughout the football establishment,” said Alan. “This philosophy still flourishes today and has evolved into the construction of some magnificent training facilities around the country.” “The club’s vision was to be the top training centre in the land for a club of our size, and we have gone a long way to achieved it. At that time we had a number of huge advantages over other clubs. We had the financial resources, the desire from our time in the Premiership and the desire from the board to invest. We also had the land available. . Now, twelve years on I am responsible for the twelve grass pitches, including the stadium pitch at Portman Road.” “The training centre is a forty acre site which houses eleven training


pitches including a 60 x 40metre indoor synthetic pitch. Like many clubs across the UK we are still faced with huge economic pressures, compounded by the recession, which has placed increasing demands on a reduced number of groundstaff.” At the beginning of the year Alan


presents a renovation programme for each of the pitches for the coming year, outlining exactly the present state of the surface, the problems to be addressed, the process required to do it and the machinery needed to complete the task. All the pitches are 100% natural. “We are incredibly fortunate in that the soil is a sandy loam. It is the ideal substance for natural turf. The drainage is superb and we try keeping the introduction of new sand to an absolute minimum to avoid layering and interfering with the natural drainage ability of the soil. The biggest maintenance issue we have is retaining the quality of the turf.” Wear and tear, wet weather, excessive


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