FOOTBALL


City, he was tasked with taking the club forward, because all the pitch works were then being undertaken by an outside pitch contractor - fertilising, seeding, spraying and all pitch renovations. “I was lucky that, when I was at Blackburn, we did a lot of these tasks in-house, so I brought that experience with me.”


“Inside twelve months, all the staff at Maine Road, Carrington Training Ground and the Platt Lane Academy Complex


were doing the pitch works in-house - for example, driving tractors and Workman buggies and also knowing how to work the irrigation system. If we had any problems, it was up to me to resolve them at all three sites.”


“At the first team’s training complex at Carrington, I oversaw the installation of new Fibresand pitches which, at the time, were all very new to the club. Very quickly in 2001, my position was upgraded to Grounds


Manager. One of my first jobs at the Maine Road stadium was to take out the old rootzone pitch and install a new Fibresand pitch, which was like for like with the first team training ground. In 2002/3, we won the pitch of the year at Maine Road, the first time the club had ever won anything on the grounds side, which was good to see for everyone at the club.”


In 2003/4, Manchester City moved to east Manchester to their new home - the


PC February/March 2019


59


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