As a life long Burnley fan, the club’s head groundsman, Paul Bradshaw, has landed his dream job. The club’s return to the top flight looks like adding to his workload, but it’s a challenge he is looking forward to.
Laurence Gale MSc reports
Adropof C B
urnley Football Club’s Head Groundsman, Paul Bradshaw, often has to pinch himself. He still finds
it hard to believe what he has achieved in his short working career, especially when he sees his beloved Turf Moor pitch on TV. Burnley born and bred he says he could not wish for a better, more satisfying job. Paul began his sportsturf career as a
greenkeeper at Nelson Golf Club in Nelson. After thirteen years at the club, he had had enough of golf and fancied a move into football. He got a job working at Liverpool Football Club’s academy, working occasionally at the training ground and Anfield, where he spent four years honing his skills.
In 2005 he joined Burnley as senior
groundsman at the training ground and was promoted to head groundsman, across both facilities, in 2008. The Clarets, as they are affectionately
know, are one of the founding teams of the Football League and their home has always been Turf Moor. They have spent most of their time in the top two tiers of English football apart from a lean spell between 1976 and 1987 that almost saw
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the club drop into the Conference - only defeat for Lincoln City on the final day of the season keeping Burnley up. Since then they have steadily
progressed through the leagues to become one of the ‘new boys’ in this year’s Premiership - four straight home wins, one against Manchester United, announcing their arrival. The return to top flight football after
thirty-two years has meant that Turf Moor is in need of a face-lift to bring it up to Premiership standard. However, many commentators are of the opinion that the antiquated facilities for visiting teams give Burnley added home advantage.
Nevertheless, in 2008, plans were drawn up to extend the stadium to a capacity of around 28,000. This increase would include a second tier attached to the Bob Lord stand, along with a complete redevelopment. In addition, a new stand was planned to replace the Cricket Field Stand - Burnley Cricket Club’s ground is adjacent to the stadium - which would also hold a cricket pavilion and hotel. However, with the worsening economic conditions in the
UK, these plans are currently on hold. Paul Bradshaw is one of a breed of young head groundsmen currently working in football’s top flight. An almost permanent smile shows his obvious delight at being in charge of the pitch at ‘his’ club and seeing them play against some of the giants of European football.
He is assisted by Barry O’Brien, James Blackburn and Aiden McGough. Paul looks after the stadium pitch on a day-to- day basis but is joined by his team on match days. The stadium pitch was reconstructed in 1998, replacing the old soil based pitch with a Mansfield FibreSand one, at the same time adding undersoil heating and a pop-up watering system. Barry, James and Aiden look after the Gawthorpe training ground. Here, there are three senior pitches, one three- quarter pitch (80 x 50 metres) and two small-sided pitches. These are mainly soil-based and, subsequently, difficult to manage through the winter months. But, plans are in place to upgrade the whole facility. In 2005, the first team training pitch was reconstructed with fibresand to
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