“John Wright has just returned to work after an horrific traffic accident. The club has been marvellous and have been instrumental in helping his recovery”
To say I was pleased would be an understatement, as all the hard work prior to the concert had definitely paid off.
By the time we had finished cutting, the stage end had been levelled and was ready for seeding. We carried out five passes, using a combination of a disc and dimple seeder, burying eight bags on the area and also overseeding the whole pitch twice with five bags just to fill in any gaps. Within four to six days we had germination and it was time to apply some artificial light. I ran the 1000w MLR12 rig across the newly seeded area, leaving it in one place for twelve hours overnight and moving it strategically across the width of the pitch every night. We had some fantastic results, with
went down, I applied Daconil WeatherStik contact fungicide to the foliage. I like to think of this as putting a protective jacket on the plant to eliminate, or at least reduce, the risk of disease.
And that was it. Time for the floor layers to complete their task and move out, to let thousands of adoring fans descend upon the pitch to watch the concert.
I would like to say that I worried the whole way through the concert but, if I’m honest, I was quite confident that all the months of planning, thought and preparation I had put into protecting the pitch, through my first concert as Head Groundsman, would pay off, and it did. Once the concert was over, and the covers had come up, even I was amazed how well it had reacted to all the intense heat, weight and deprivation of moisture - bar coke and lager - it had been though. I remember waiting, in anticipation, for the first terraplast panel to be lifted so I could see what I had left, it was like watching the fall of the Berlin wall!! Within thirty six hours - and a sleepless thirty six hours for me - they had gone, all that was left was a bare stage end and a decent looking rest of the pitch. Now it was time for me to plan for and focus on our first game in little over five weeks.
Almost immediately Premier Pitches
were back, minus the caravan, to tilth up the stage end, whilst myself and a young work experience lad scoured the pitch for any nuts, bolts or fag ends left behind. We discovered quite a few, along with the few hundred bottle tops! As the contractors were hard at work,
we were busy brushing the rest of the pitch with a straight brush in preparation for a rotary cut and a vertidrain.
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rapid recovery and thickening up of the sward. It was catching up with the rest of the pitch quickly. I had been feeding the stage end with the granular feeds prior to the concert. Even though there was no grass, I felt it would be beneficial to have the nutrients in the profile after the concert to give the new seed the best possible chance.
I continued with a very simple feeding plan of liquids every four weeks, and granular applications in between, to take us up to the first game, with the addition of some molasses sugars and biostimulants into my liquid programme of 10:0:10 and PrimoMaxx. We used a product called Molturf, a sugars programme used more for the prevention of nematodes. We had a history of the little blighters and, even though I had removed a lot of the soil, I felt it was best to be overcautious and, also, feeding through the leaf gave the plant every chance of sustaining an attack if they were feeding off the roots. As a biostimulant, we used a product called Bios from Soil Harmony, which encourages and feeds all the micro- organisms within the profile. We have seen some fantastic root development since using it alongside our other products. Since returning to Coventry, I have
replaced some old equipment and brought in new. We now have two new Dennis G860s cassette mowers, three new Sarp 53mm pedestrian rotaries, a new sprayer and a John Deere 3720 tractor. I predominantly use the pedestrian rotaries for cutting and cleaning up, they do such a good job, and we use the G860s for pitch presentation (banding up).
I have a team of six staff working with me at Coventry to look after the main stadium, academy and training grounds.
Paul Aston, my assistant, and Neil Matts are based at the training ground, whilst Julian Morris and Andrew Thompson work at the academy training ground. John Wright, who has just returned to work after an horrific traffic accident, works with me at the stadium. John is lucky to be alive. He had just finished a cup game, in November 2009 and was on his way home when he collided with a vehicle on his moped and received life threatening injuries.
The club has been marvellous. Many of the players and the club chairman went to visit him in hospital and have been instrumental in helping his recovery, allowing him access and support from the team of club physios. He his now back working a few days a week with the aim of getting back to full time working next year.
On match days, along with two other staff, I come in around 7.00am to cut and prepare the pitch, We have to cut the pitch (23mm) in special band configurations for the manager, using the Dennis mowers, stringing out every band. We double cut, usually finishing about 10.00am. We them use our spray linemarking system to mark out and, finally, set up the portable goals. We usally finish around midday. I generally meet up with the manager about 1.00pm. Generally, we do not water the pitch before matches unless the manager specifically requests it.
Once the game has finished, the staff and volunteers divot the pitch, whilst I mow it with a Sarp rotary to ensure it is clean and tidy. This season we are seeing some fantastic results from all the hard work and effort we put in across all of our sites, and I’m told the pitch here at the Ricoh is one we should all be proud of. We have a long hard winter ahead but, if we can hold it together, I think we will be in for a successful year. Planning and preparation is well
underway for the Olympics coming to Coventry in 2012. The Ricoh Arena - or the City of Coventry Stadium as we will be known for the games - is set to host twelve games of football in fourteen days, some of which will be double headers! I know it will be the toughest test of my short career so far, as we then only have approximately seven days before the football season commences! But, I am looking forward to being involved in such a prestigious event, that will be viewed worldwide, and the challenges that come with that. I believe it can only help develop me as both a head groundsman and a person.
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