FOOTBALL I would often approach


‘Game changer’ David Beckham with his statue - the first to be erected on the Legends Plaza


Yet, as nice an individual as Shaun is, I quickly realise that there must be more in his locker than just being a great fella. To have progressed from a summer intern to the position of Director of Turf & Grounds by the age of twenty-seven, he clearly possesses an array of skills - not least, drive and determination to succeed. He also needs to be very good at growing grass because, let’s be blunt, a business strategy that centres around attracting huge global


superstars can’t function properly if the most important tool of the trade (the pitch) is not up to scratch.


Zlatan Ibrahimović was reported to have refused a $100m offer from China in order to take a $1.5m-per-year offer from the Galaxy, and an elite standard grass pitch was very much part of that decision-making process. David Beckham also turned out to be a ‘natural grass’ advocate during his time in the MLS - famously telling reporters in 2007


David for his opinions, as he’d played on most of the best pitches in the world. Having access to a guy like that was brilliant for me and, despite soccer and its infrastructure being quite new over here, he never once criticised the surface


”


that “every team should have grass, without a doubt,”


I begin by asking Shaun, just what an impact the arrival of Beckham had, both on the club and on his eighteen-man agronomy department? “Quite simply, it was a game changer; both for the Galaxy and for the MLS in general. Even before Beckham, our standards were pretty high, but once he came in everything got magnified”


#SoMuchChoice Brush or Disc spreading - it’s your choice!


0.95M spreading width to 15M


www.charterhouse-tm.co.uk | 01428 661222 PC April/May 2019 51


Pedestrian, Trailed or PTO


SP950


1520


1010


DS800


DS550SP


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