1. 10 JUNE2016 www.TURFBUSINESS.co.uk
WHAT has been the biggest success in
your career?
It’s a question we pose to Paul
Burgess, Head Groundsman at Real
Madrid C.F., in his back garden in
Madrid. Fresh from preparing the pitch
for the Champions League Semi Final,
he takes his time before answering: the
twelfth player.
“Probably one of my biggest
successes in my career happened
when I was at Arsenal. Whenever you
asked for money for the grass, the
club’s attitude was, you want £20,000
for something for the grass? It seemed
crazy, and at the time, it was very
difficult getting money to do things –
and then I got the club to change the
mentality. I got the club to view the
pitch as the twelfth player, and all of a
sudden when ‘he’ became a twelfth
player, £20,000 is like a two-minute
wage for a superstar! Now, the
numbers made sense and from that
moment going forward, trying to get
money for things became a lot easier.
That mentality is now not only at
Arsenal, I think it is everywhere.”
It isn’t the first success story he’ll
venture during our talk, an interview
in which he also shares plenty of
strong opinions. Our discussions range
from unsung glory to what constitutes
a great groundsman, and of course his
move from Arsenal to Real Madrid in
2009, a move that Arsène Wenger
dubbed “the most amazing transfer
during the window.”
His career in groundsmanship
seemed destined from early doors,
when at 14 years old and football-
mad, Paul read an article on then-
Head Groundsman at Arsenal Steve
Braddock. “I thought, that sounds
quite interesting, so I went to school
and said I wanted to do work
experience as a groundsman at
Blackpool FC.”
His work experience lead to a
summer job, and a permanent
position followed – before the Premier
League beckoned. He joined Arsenal
at 18 years old, and when the
development of the training site saw
the Steve move to head up the new
venture, Paul took over his position as
Head Groundsman at the stadium at
the tender age of 21.Today, Paul still
counts Steve as a confidant, and can
often be found on the phone to
industry figures such as Darren
Baldwin (a man he names as one of
the most “forward-thinking
groundsman in the Premier League”)
or Dave Roberts.
He’s also frequently onTwitter (“It
reminds people that I’m still alive,”),
and aside from keeping the lines of
communication open with key turf
players back home, the social media
platform also acts as a conduit
between Paul and the press, as public
speaking has been something of a
barrier to this relationship so far.
“No one gets more frustrated about
that than me,” he says. “I think I have
got a really nice story to tell. I am not
scared of being asked a question that I
don’t know the answer to, because
there are plenty of things I don’t know.
But maybe my career would be better
– would have been better – if I was
able to do more public speaking. I
have done well, but who knows
where it could have taken me – I
would surely be a bigger name.”
In Madrid, Paul need not be
concerned with being a bigger name.
Throughout the course of our post-
match outing, he’s stopped countless
times for photos with autograph-
hungry fans. Far from being just “the
gardener” (there’s no equivalent term
for groundsman in Spanish), Paul is a
standout star in his own right. And yet
despite having a team of 48 staff, he
still enjoys the practical side of the
job, and is often found marking the
pitch lines himself – albeit warily
when the media is around to watch.
“I have a camera on me at every
game following me around,” he says.
“When I am speaking, I have to cover
my mouth because if I don’t, they
make up what I am saying and put
subtitles, and usually it’s not what I
have said. I have to be really careful.”
Learning how to handle the
pressure of the press has been part of
the job for Paul, whose formal training
extends to NVQ Level 3.The rest of
his education has been garnered
through experience, and from
attending events to keep abreast with
the latest technology and
developments.
When looking at the state of
groundscare Stateside, Paul notes that
there is a higher focus on education
than experience, and also that this
balance tips the other way when
examining the groundsmanship in the
UK. He’s also quick to add that
experience is no substitution for
innovation – an area in which Paul
believes there is substantial room for
improvement.
“I think the standards in the UK are
good, but they could be a lot better.
When I look at the Premier League for
instance, I don’t see any progress;
what I was doing in the Premier
League 10 years ago with regards to
lights, nothing has changed. Nothing
has moved on one bit in the last
decade.”
When speaking of lights, he is of
course referencing the time he
became the first groundsman in the
world to buy lighting rigs for use on a
whole football pitch back in 2005, a
feat for which he doesn’t believe he
receives the acknowledgement he
deserves.The investment set a new bar
for Premier League clubs, a home
truth he doesn’t shy away from.
“When I left Arsenal – and this is
going to be painful for some
groundsmen to hear, but I don’t care –
Arsène Wenger said that I didn’t only
make the Arsenal pitch the best, but
that I improved every single pitch in
the Premier League by bringing in
lights. Suddenly we’d raised the bar
and good wasn’t good enough – you
had to be really good.”
Other teams needed to react, and
react they did.Tottenham bought
lights. Manchester United bought
lights. Indeed any Premier League
Spanish gardener or industry pioneer..?
Paul Burgess has achieved something of a legendary status among groundsmen – and it’s
not hard to see why. In this exclusive and candid interview, he shares his thoughts on the
state of Premier League groundsmanship, battling complacency, career highlights thus far,
and why home truths are the key to improving standards and recognition….
Paul Burgess at home with only the Turf Business TV cameras to cope with.
A Toro Procore at work at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Seethefull
3-part
interview
on
TurfBusinessTV

2. 11JUNE2016www.TURFBUSINESS.co.uk
team that wanted to compete with the
quality of his pitch soon made the
investment, and even though lighting
rigs are now a standard feature in most
major stadiums, the fact that the first
lights were on Paul’s pitch is one he
feels is often overlooked. “I think I
should have been recognised for that –
the only person who did was Wegner,”
he says. “It is a disappointment when I
look back on my career; I mean, I
sleep okay at night, but it would have
been nice to have some recognition
for that.”
But while things such as the
aforementioned lighting rigs or hosting
events can help drive groundsmanship
forward, other and altogether more
common practices have in Paul’s mind
set the industry back.The primary
culprit?
Renovations. Where 15 years ago,
all groundsmen were doing their own
renovations, outsourcing to contractors
has become the norm. But while this
may seem like a more efficient use of
resources, could it be that forfeiting
the handling of this important part of
pitch maintenance is putting
groundsmen at a disadvantage?
“I don’t think there are many
(groundsmen) that have the skillset or
who want the responsibility to do their
renovations in-house,” says Paul. “The
problem is that every groundsman
wants that contractor in on the same
day, which obviously can’t be done.
So these contractors are tearing
around all these pitches trying to do
them all, which means somebody is
getting their pitch renovated in
conditions that aren’t ideal, because it
is not sunny every day of the week.
“You are gambling on that day
having good conditions, and if it’s not
the result you want, you have to live
with that renovation for the next 12
months.”
The fact that a groundsman would
sooner gamble on their pitch than
invest their own time is a source of
frustration for Paul – one of many.
Frustration rears it’s head again
when the subject of Britain being
home to the best groundsman is
raised. In international eyes, Britain is
renowned worldwide for creating and
exporting the best groundsmen in the
world – Paul himself a prime example.
But the subject raises questions about
what the standard of being the “best”
really entails.
“I think British groundsmen are the
best, but it can be a lot better – there is
no doubt about it,” he says candidly. “I
get frustrated because I keep hearing
we are the best – well, really if this is
the best, then I don’t think the rest is
that good.There is so much more we
can do, and especially in this day and
age. We need to start having standards
– virtually every industry in the world
has standards and in the turf industry,
it just seems to be, is it green or not?
Things have to change.”
In Paul’s view, an increased
accountability will not only lead to the
standards of groundsmanship being
amplified, but it will also improve the
perception of the job, and heighten
the standards, recognition and rewards
that accompany it. If the pitch is the
twelfth player, could this be an
opportunity for the groundsman
perhaps become the thirteenth?
It is indisputably the case that
technology and machinery has forged
ahead in the past 10 to 15 years –
everything from hybrid pitches to
aeration techniques along with turf
science as a whole has seen vast
improvement. However, for Paul,
these changes may have made things
easier for groundsman to the point that
the skills and knowledge required to
use them may have slowed to a
standstill. Case in point, the length of
time a groundsman can be out of the
game and return without being
hampered by a skills gap.
“I really rate Dave Roberts and he’s
a friend, so hopefully he won’t mind
me using him as an example,” says
Paul. “Dave had been out of
professional football for 15 years or so
working at private school.Then, he
comes back and walks into one of the
top five jobs in the UK – he can do
that because in the last 15 years,
everyone has been standing still.
“Would you get on an airplane
when the pilot hasn’t flown for 15
years? Would you have heart surgery if
the doctor hadn’t operated for 15
years? He’s been out of football for 10
to 15 years and is now one of the top
two or three groundsmen in the game.
That, to me, tells me there has not
been much progress.”
Paul’s passion for progress is
tangible. He has made a great deal of
his own since arriving at Santiago
Bernabéu, namely through adapting to
the fact that the venue is an events
stadium rather than just a football
stadium. Events are held on more or
less a daily basis, and then Paul and
the team have two weeks before the
start of the season.
“Obviously at the beginning I didn’t
like that at all, but it’s a good learning
curve. At the end of the day, I cost
money, my department costs a lot of
money, and they need to therefore
make money. When I look at the UK
stadiums, I don’t see many profit-
making green departments.
“They shut down their business for
three months of the year – name
another industry in the world where
they are only open for business nine
months of the year! It makes no sense.
It doesn’t have to be pop concerts, it
could be anything – it’s not my job to
say what they should do, but these
pitches should make money and
they’re not.”
While sites like Wembley and
Twickenham may have already
experienced life as a multipurpose
venue, other stadiums throughout the
UK are not immune, according to
Paul. In fact, it is embracing the fact
that stadiums will be used all year
round that could present opportunities
rather than challenges.
One such opportunity could be to
work alongside the marketing
manager and presenting ideas for the
way the pitch could generate revenue.
“If I owned a football club, the Head
Groundsman would be working in the
marketing department,” he says.
“After the club and the players, the
most marketable thing in the football
club is the pitch.” Paul adds that
groundsman are best placed to know
if the pitch is capable of handling
another fixture – information the
marketing team won’t necessarily have
unless told. It’s taking the initiative to
breach these barriers in
communication that can help clubs –
and ultimately the grounds teams
within them – reach new pinnacles of
success.
Speaking of success, we return to
the subject. Paul’s career as a
groundsman and UEFA consultant has
presented many opportunities, and has
enabled him to travel and enjoy
incredible experiences. In the weeks
following our interview, Real Madrid
went on to win the Championship
League Final in a stunning match – an
event Paul was at in a spectator
capacity. Surely this must be one of
many highlights in what has already
been an impressive career?
“After seven years, I think my
career highlight is just walking into the
stadium every day,” he says. “This
stadium is iconic and Real Madrid is
the biggest club in the world. I have
had many amazing days and nights,
weekends here, and I think it would
be wrong to dismiss one over
another…though I’ll tell you, my
biggest highlight is really watching my
two children speaking to each other in
Spanish!That is probably another
highlight. Just being a part of this
wonderful club is an honour and a
privilege.”
“This stadium is iconic and Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world.” – Real Madrid ‘gardener’ Paul Burgess.