Roy Rigby, Grounds Manager at the world’s richest football club, is benefitting from a huge injection of cash for new machinery and pitch rebuilding at the three facilities he manages. Laurence Gale finds that he has ...
IN HAND! T
he Premiership is all about ‘big bucks’ these days, with money pouring into clubs from all over the globe. Only fifteen years ago the ‘big three’ were Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal and money was ‘traditionally’ made through sponsorship, sensible (ish) transfer fees, ticket receipts and commercial revenue. For a short while Newcastle and Blackburn challenged their superiority, but they quickly faded away as the mega- bucks started to roll in at other clubs. Chelsea started the ball rolling with Russian money building a strong player base to (successfuly) challenge for honours and they are now firmly established as one of the ‘big four’. Arsenal benefitted from Middle East money in the shape of a brand new stadium and a ‘few quid’ to spend on players, whilst Manchester United and Liverpool have both had new American owners in recent years with not inconsiderable financial clout. But all that is about to change if, indeed, money talks!
The latest club aiming to spend their way to success are Manchester City. In September 2008 the Abu Dhabi United Group bought the club and began a series of expensive player purchases. Their first coup was to steal Brazilian Robinho from under the noses of Chelsea for a staggering £32 million. As if to rub salt into the Stamford Bridge wound Wayne Bridge and Shaun Wright- Phillips were bought from the club.
To date Manchester City has invested over £200 million on players. It remains to be seen whether this investment brings success. Certainly, last season will have been a disappointment to their long suffering fans with the club finishing 10th in the league and ‘trophyless’ in all other competitions. So, with an annual wages bill that is set to beat all records - reported to be in excess of £200 million - is any of this new money being spent on the playing surfaces?
Manchester City currently have two out
grounds, the academy ground at Platt Lane and the training ground at Carrington (with Manchester United as neighbours!). Both are in constant use seven days a week.
Overall management of these facilities, along with the City of Manchester stadium, is the responsibility of Roy Rigby who has been at the club since 2001. Roy previously worked at Blackburn Rovers before being offered the position of Head Groundsman at Manchester City. Since his arrival Roy has endeavoured to
produce the best playing surfaces he could with the resources he had at his disposal. When he started he had a team of just six to manage all three sites, however, with the ongoing development of the facilities and the upgrading of pitches Roy now has twelve staff to cope with the amount of work required to maintain them. The last twelve months has seen unprecedented levels of funding with
£2.5 million being allocated to the upkeep of the playing surfaces - £600,000 at the Carrington Training Ground, £700,000 at the stadium and £1.2 million at Platt Lane. Roy still cannot believe his luck. Everything he has asked for has been sanctioned. It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for all the staff, with new working practices, new machinery and complete refurbishments of all playing surfaces. To help cope with the increased workload Roy has restructured the staffing. He is now Grounds Manager whilst a head groundsman has been appointed at each of the three sites. The stadium head groundsman is Lee Jackson who is assisted by Gary Conway and Craig Knight. Steve Malone is the head groundsman at Carrington and he is assisted by Darren Farnell, Paul Baker, Paul Watson, Harry Roe and Mark Ashworth. The Platt Lane facility is under the stewardship of head groundsman, Lee Metcalfe, with Ged Coyne and Alan Foden.
The longest serving member of the team is Paul Watson who has been at the club for thirty-five years and the newest recruit is Lee Metcalf who recently moved from Blackburn Rovers. It was certainly a busy closed season for them. Roy’s first task was to confirm the club’s requirements for this season with regard to pitch improvements, draw up specifications and put the work out to tender. Mallinsons were the preferred choice.
Carrington Training Ground
Platt Lane Academy ground 79
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