John Ledwidge recalls the day he became Head Groundsman at ‘his’ club, Coventry City


Pink and Sky Blues... A


fter my first day as a naive thirteen year old, coming to help the Head Groundsman at the time, I knew that this was going


to be what I wanted to do. A Coventry kid, born and bred, I had set my sights on becoming a footballer, as every young lad does. However, I unfortunately didn’t have the required physique back then to become a professional footballer - short and slightly overweight wasn’t really what the club looked for in a potential goalkeeper! So, I had to be realistic and I was so desperate, at the time, to be involved in the club set-up I would have done anything. Little did I know back then that this “grasscutting” would develop into my passion and career, and be something that I enjoy so much. I was taken on as an apprentice in 2002. Every day, I would cycle the ten mile jaunt to the training ground with my colleague, Neil Matts. I was so happy to be going to work at ‘my’ club and doing something that, over the years, has developed from a hobby to a ‘slight’ obsession. I worked through my NVQ level 2 and 3 with the help of the then head groundsman, Michael Finch, in a very short space of time and, at the tender age of nineteen, was made Deputy Head Groundsman at the club, primarily overseeing the day to day running of the 52


training facility and managing some young apprentices in the department. On occasions, I would take control of all eight pitches within our tenure. For most this would seem daunting, but I couldn’t wait for the Head Groundsman to go on holiday so I could really get a feel for being in complete control. I spent three fantastic years in this role and learned a lot, every day facing different challenges and dealing with some rather ‘interesting’ characters within the club! As in most careers, there comes time for a change, and this is where I possibly made the best decision of my life, with a move to Aston Villa’s training ground, to manage their beautiful and very modern training facility, as Assistant Head Groundsman to Jonathan Calderwood. I can honestly say I thought I knew a fair bit about standards when I left Coventry, but Jonathan took this to a whole new level and made me quickly realise how attention to detail is everything in this job, and why he is at the top of his game when it comes to groundsmanship. Attention to detail was the key, having the right machinery, keeping machinery clean and serviced, using string lines when mowing, cleaning up the sward using pedestrian rotaries, spending time researching and trialing equipment, products and services, taking regular soil samples, networking and talking to other


turfcare professionals are some of the valuable practices I taught at Villa. I learned so much in my fourteen months at Aston Villa and can’t thank all the team, especially Jonathan, for everything they taught me, and for giving me the opportunity they did. I couldn’t have been happier working with some fantastic people at the club, including two lads who followed me over to Villa and are still there now, loving every minute.


But, an opportunity I had been working so hard for, came up at my home club, and I had to make an extremely difficult decision - at twenty three years old - to take it or not? Again, Jonathan was a fantastic professional, supporting me in my decision to become the new Head Groundsman at Coventry. I was in an advantageous position, knowing the previous history at the club, and was under no illusions about what I was coming back to. But, the club had made a lot of progress in terms of the running of the business, which made my decision easier to make. My main responsibility is to manage the pitch at the Ricoh arena, but also manage the other seven pitches we have across our Academy and first team training ground. All the boys - a few that were still there from previously, along with some new faces - made me very welcome. I had a fair bit of mess to clear


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