It’s Yellow For The Sky Blues, As INFINICUT® Fleet Impresses At Coventry City
It’s been an exciting two 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.” 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.”
