Winter Sports For a life-long Hatters fan - not that, at
twenty-three years old, he’s up for a long service medal just yet - being offered
Stockport County’s Head Groundsman role was one that Liam Cash could simply not turn down.
Joining the club in late December proved difficult, with back to back fixtures and some pretty awful weather to contend with
Cash Back! W
hen talking about ‘noisy neighbours’ Stockport County can
probably claim to have the loudest, with the
Manchester’s United and City just seven miles away. The club currently play in the Blue Square Bet Premiership, and are the longest serving Football League side to have dropped out of the top divisions, having played in the league for a total of 110 consecutive years.
Liam Cash actually began
his career at the club back in 2008 working under the then Head Groundsman, Lee Horton.
68 PC APRIL/MAY 2013
opportunity to work at Villa to take it all in and enjoy every minute of it”
recommend to any young groundsman who has the
“I would
“I’ve seen the pitch at its very best and its very worse! The pitch, back then, was being shared by the football club and the Sale Sharks rugby union side and it simply didn’t have the foundations needed to deal with both sports,” says Liam. “Over the years the club have added new drains and sampled new materials and I thought, as a result, last year the pitch dealt with the dual sports the best it ever has. We all certainly learned a lot!”
“I worked under Lee until he emigrated to New Zealand just over a year ago.
I have a huge amount of respect for him and he taught me an awful lot. As I say, at the time, we had a lot to adapt to with both sports and a lot of challenges thrown at us.”
In May 2010, Liam left the club to join Premier League outfit Aston Villa. “I worked both at Villa Park and the club’s training ground, which is where I spent most of my time. Going from Stockport County to Aston Villa was huge for me, both the standard of the pitches and the levels they work to were all new to me and something I will always keep with me.” “I learned a lot from their head groundsman, Jonathan Calderwood, and the other lads there in a short period of time. It’s a great place to work and I would recommend to any young groundsman who has the opportunity to work at Villa to take it all in and enjoy every minute of it. Just walking out on a stadium pitch such as Villa Park was unbelievable for a twenty year old, but to be actually working on it was great.” Having rejoined the staff at Stockport County for ten months, and amidst uncertainty regarding staffing levels, Liam departed again, this time to join the Manchester City
Liam working at the Villa training ground in 2010
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