PASTURES NEW
Scott MacCallum catches up with a man whose CV covers not only most facets of the industry but also some of the biggest names. But now David Roberts is setting off on a whole new direction, which is aimed at helping many fellow groundspeople
Pastures new I
f there is one man in our industry for whom the saying “You never know what the future brings” could have been written, that man must be David Roberts. His career has taken him all the way from Laurie McMenemy’s unique garden, on to Southampton Football Club, then Charterhouse School, more recently Liverpool Football Club, and now Portugal’s wonderful sun-soaked Algarve, with a completely new venture, which, if past experience is to be a guide, will be a huge success. “It’s an interesting one. It’s just the way my career developed. It comes down to lucky breaks sometimes. Right place, right time,” said David, as he spoke via Zoom, direct from his apartment. It says a massive amount about David’s desire to take what chances present themselves that he has given up one of the most sought-after jobs in all turf management to take on his new challenge, but the experience and skills that he has acquired over the last 30 years make him wellequipped for his next chapter. David’s partner, Jan Felton, founded Training Unlimited 20
YOU CAN DO YOUR LEVEL 2 AND YOUR LEVEL 3 AND THEN… YOU HAD LEVEL 4, BUT THAT IS MAINLY MANAGEMENT. SO THERE SEEMED TO BE SOME GAPS – THE BITS THAT AS A STADIUM MANAGER I FOUND FRUSTRATING… 32 | TURF MATTERS | MARCH-APRIL 2022
years ago, a company which facilitates training in all areas of professional life across the UK, and it was being immersed in Jan’s life, as well as his own, which planted the seed for David’s move from turf manager to trainer. “One of my real frustrations has been that throughout my career there isn’t an obvious training path to go through. You can do your Level 2 and your Level 3 and then, if you wanted to develop further, you had Level 4, but that is mainly management. So there seemed to be some gaps – the bits that as a Stadium Manager I found frustrating because I couldn’t find those courses. It is just a niche market we operate in. “I had guys working for me, wanting to progress, but I couldn’t find courses for them. So, Jan said why don’t we set up and do our own training courses. “That was all well and good, but I couldn’t work for another company and start this new venture at the same time. So, I decided that I had to stop working for Liverpool and concentrate on providing training for the industry,” explained David, with a mixture of reluctance and trepidation. He is pleased that he will be adding to current training and education and not stepping on toes, and he is extremely complimentary about the courses that the GMA run. He also has high hopes for Leicester City’s Sports Turf Academy, set up by John Ledwidge. “Leicester’s Academy is going to be absolutely brilliant for the industry, but I’m hopeful that I will be able to add another dimension to it. For example, I’m currently writing courses on “Grow lights” “Nutrition” and “Understanding Soil Analysis”, while I’m going to do a series of
short courses on “Know your Enemy” covering pests and diseases, life cycles, cultural and chemical control. David plans to deliver the courses virtually having experienced how new forms of communication have developed through Covid. “Face to face is always the best, but you and I are talking over Zoom now and two years ago we wouldn’t even have considered doing an interview this way. Covid has changed the way we communicate and talk, and I think it will be easy for me to deliver training this way as I wouldn’t want them to be longer than a half day. “I can bring up Powerpoint, show slides and provide course notes to be taken away at the end,” said David, who is pleased that his early soundings within the industry have returned positive feedback. “I’m hoping to be able to present to Grounds Managers and Groundsmen a whole set of courses that if their guys are keen and ambitious and want to learn that I’ll be able to fine tune, based on 40 years of experience in the industry – I have amassed some knowledge!” Ah, that knowledge, not to mention that experience. All the way from Laurie McMenemy’s chalk pit garden to Jurgen Klopp’s wonderful Liverpool and the iconic Anfield Stadium and the state-of-theart AXA training facility. That’s right. It all started in the garden of one of English football’s larger than life personalities. “I was doing contracting work at the time and when I learned that Laurie McMenemy’s gardener was having a hip operation, I was a bit cheeky and asked him if he wanted a hand with his garden while his gardener got back on his feet. I went in there and sorted out his lawn – it was a bit of a mess.”
