Manchester United trains with Toro

Manchester United has added to its fleet of Toro turf machinery used to cut the grass at the club's three training grounds - Carrington Training Centre, The Cliff Training Ground and Littleton Road.

Joe Pemberton, head groundsman at Carrington - the largest of United's training grounds with 18 hectares of grass to maintain - has purchased a large, Toro Reelmaster 6700-D mower and a Workman 2110 utility vehicle to add to an existing Reelmaster 5500-D.

"The Toro Reelmasters have been used at Carrington since the training ground officially opened in January 2000," he says. "They give us a very good cut and have been reliable, so I have never thought about changing the Toro units.

"We have a heavy mowing schedule and cut almost every day during the playing season. The Workman 2110 utility buggy is used for general transport and for carting topsoil, turf, training equipment and various other items around the site and we find it very useful."

Carrington is in constant use by the first team squad and the reserves, as well as the under-18s, down to the under-11s teams. It's also used for a number of summer tournaments.

Tony Sinclair, who is also stadium head groundsman, runs The Cliff and Littleton Road sites, which are used by the under-9s and 10s squads. He has bought a Reelmaster 3100-D riding mower and says he is very happy with its performance.

Local dealers Cheshire Turf Machinery maintain the kit at all four sites. "They provide a high level of support and service and good response with call-out times," says Tony. "We have a good association with them and they help out with any problems in quick time."

Photo: From left: Lely's Peter Mansfield, United's Joe Pemberton and Tony Sinclair, Peter McGreevy of Cheshire Turf Machinery, and grounds staff.