I years for Dale Gregory since he joined Coventry
SPORTS PITCHES
It ’ s yellow for The Sky Blues , as INFINICUT ® fleet impresses at Coventry City
t ’ s been an exciting two
I years for Dale Gregory since he joined Coventry
City Football Club as their new Head of Grounds & Facilities . Not only has he overseen the significant expansion of the club ’ s Sky Blue Lodge Training Ground and Alan Higgs Academy Site , but investment has also resulted in the purchase of first-class equipment to maintain it ! Among his new fleet are a trio of INFINICUT ® SM34 Rotary mowers and another three FL34 cylinders , helping to deliver year-round presentation and outstanding quality of cut .
Dale leads a team of six , responsible for looking after the surfaces across the two sites . “ At the Sky Blue Lodge we have two and a half hybrid pitches that are for the first-team and four natural pitches at the Alan Higgs centre for the academy ” he explains . “ The construction of the pitches at Sky Blue Lodge is identical to that at the stadium - and we maintain it as such - to give the players the same experience they ’ re going to get when it comes to match day .” Consistency and familiarity was also what led Dale to the INFINICUT ’ s , having used these in his previous role at the King Power Stadium .
The quality of cut and presentation , particularly striping , produced by the INFINICUT ® range is one of the best I ’ ve seen
“ The quality of cut and presentation , particularly striping , produced by the INFINICUT ® range is one of the best I ’ ve seen .” With this in mind , Dale opted for a fleet comprised of three SM34 rotary ’ s and three FL34 cylinder mowers , delivered by Martin Shepherd of George Browns Ltd in February 2023 . “ Throughout the winter , training is still happening every day so we use the Rotary ’ s to follow up with a clean-up cut , maintaining the height and removing debris . When we don ’ t have training , we ’ ll employ the services of the cylinders to sharpen up the cut and further boost presentation levels .”
He continues , “ Not only are we getting the aesthetics we want , the fact they ’ re also electric was another major reason we opted for INFINICUT ® , as we look to improve our operations on the sustainability front . As well as reducing emissions and vibration levels , they ’ re quiet , which means we can mow one pitch while players are training on the other .”
The club also took delivery of a pair of SpringRake ™ and ThatchMaster ™ cassettes from the TMSystem ™ to quickly and easily equip into their FL34 ’ s . “ Grooming is essential for keeping the plant healthy and doing it with the INFINICUT ® means we can keep unnecessary weight off the pitches . These operations will be conducted regularly throughout the spring and autumn and play an important part in our overall maintenance programme .”
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50 GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | May / June 2024