FOOTBALL/RUGBY
Getting Personal
Mark Jones - he’s a busy guy who can’t live without his phone
Who are you? Mark Jones, Head of Operations at Rodney Parade - home of Newport County FC, Dragons Rugby Club and Newport Rugby Club.
Family status: Married to Sonia with two children - Calum 29 and Brogan 21.
Who’s your hero and why? My mum, who died twenty-five years ago. She taught me a good work ethic, to treat everybody with respect and good manners.
What would you change about yourself? I’d be a little more organised.
What’s your guilty pleasure? I’ve got seventy bottles of gin in my collection ... but I don’t feel that guilty about it lol.
What’s been the highlight of your career so far? As the Head of Operations, I’m responsible for lots more than just the pitch. I sold the idea of utilising Rodney Parade as a police hub for the NATO summit and we served nearly 30,000 meals in two weeks whilst making the most money that has ever been made.
What are your pet peeves? People who make negative and ill-informed comments on social media.
If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Probably Dubai, it’s the first place I look at when booking a holiday.
What’s the best part of your job? Job satisfaction, operating a stadium that hosts three teams and completing a seventy- game fixture list.
… and the worst? The stress, pressure and number of hours it takes to complete the seventy deadlines mentioned above.
Do you have a lifetime ambition? To be around to see my children fulfil theirs.
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? That’s obvious; my wife. I always look forward to a nice quiet night in on the sofa (with a gin of course).
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Relax, because I won’t have to worry about my children’s futures.
If you were to describe yourself as a musical instrument, what would you be and why? I’d like to say a saxophone because it’s seen as the sexy instrument, but I think I’m more like a keyboard due to its versatility.
82 PC February/March 2019
Which three people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party? Billy Connolly, Chris Evans and Will Smith.
If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why? My Chairman, David Buttress. I’d write a nice new contract for that really special chap called Mark Jones.
Do you have any bad habits? Replying to emails in the middle of the night.
... or any good ones? I like to look out for people.
Do you go to bed worrying about the next day’s workload? Definitely.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? Whatever you do in life, don’t cheat, do it properly.
What’s your favourite smell? My dog Lola’s paws.
What do you do in your spare time? I’ve just got a new dog so I like to take her out to unwind and I do love our holidays.
What’s the daftest work-related question you have ever been asked? A rugby player once asked me about the fitness of the groundstaff whilst they were using a Ransomes Mastiff. I answered with “Yes they walk a long way” to which he replied: “But they must be strong to be able to push the mower.” Think you’ll agree that’s fairly daft.
What’s your favourite piece of kit? Nowadays, I couldn’t do without my mobile phone, but pitch-wise the good old divotting fork.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Dedicated, sarcastic and caring.
What talent would you like to have? Bilingual.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? A five day working week would be nice.
normally we have two or three fixtures, and it’s tough! It’s the monotony of clean-up straight after the game, the divot forks come out, then we go through some aeration processes and, before you know, it they’re starting again. Between those fixtures, you are trying to feed in any way possible; just trying to get through the season. It would be lovely to plan out and have a fertiliser programme, but it just doesn’t work like that here. When we installed the PlayMaster, we sat down and were told we are going to give you a feeding and maintenance programme. I said, hang on a minute; before you do any of that, take a look at my next year’s fixture list. They were shocked as they didn’t realise we had so many games, so a bespoke programme was put together.” Mark likes to keep the height of cut as long as he can at the start of the season, to help him keep as much grass cover as possible. “What we tend to do, on a match day early in the season, is get a
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