Struggles of success at Luton Town FC

The grounds team at Luton have seen quite a few changes to the stadium since their promotion to the topflight; however, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing…

Head of Grounds Richard Bird at Kenilworth Road spoke to us about the challenges presented by Premier League promotion; he highlighted the developments to Luton’s stadium infrastructure: “The new stand had to be built to fulfil the Premier League requirements. I doubt it would have been built if we had stayed in the Championship.”

The increased media attention has seen several changes to the club: “It is an old stadium. When it was built, it wasn’t for Sky TV. The new stadiums are built for the advancements in media. Unfortunately, at Kenilworth Road, we are enclosed within housing on three sides. Therefore, we don’t have as much space to cater for TV. We have to utilise the limited area that we have to match the media requirements. The whole stadium has had a major refurbishment to see us through until we go to the new stadium. Everyone in the club has worked hard to get to where we are.”

 

The challenges of change

With the stadium being surrounded by housing, the primary building site for the new stand has been the pitch. Richard discussed the challenges behind this: “We had companies coming onto the pitch trying to deliver equipment to build the new stand. One Saturday morning, I came in and we had a diesel container which was half on and half off the pitch. You just hope that it hasn’t killed anything.”

“Even though the pitch was boarded out to take the weight of the vehicles, the focus was on making sure the stand got built. People forgot that there could be things dripping underneath. When we found out about the plate-size diesel spills, it was heartbreaking because we knew that we would have to dig it all out.”

If you don’t ask, you won’t get

Back when Luton were in the Championship, Richard asked for several improvements to the pitch and was pleasantly shocked by the positive response: “I asked if we could get the goalmouths stitched, but I thought that was pushing my luck. However, the club came back and asked for a price to stitch the whole pitch and the transformation was unbelievable.”

“There has been a lot of investment into the pitch. We used to have issues with the drainage, and the Board invested in that quite early on which benefitted the pitch. With the club moving to a new stadium within the next few years, you always have to weigh up the pros and cons of investments.”

Pressure of the Premier League

The increased amount of live coverage has caused heightened anxiety for Richard and his team. “The games are now shown all over the world and that has been a big change for the grounds staff - the pressure has been huge. Whilst our pitch isn’t an Emirates, we try to do the best we can to make sure it looks the best. Everything we work on throughout the week goes towards game day.”

“I have been here for thirty years, and I feel like I have aged thirty years in the last six months! I have had a lot of sleepless nights worrying about the pitch being good enough, and growing a pitch in four weeks has been mind-boggling. However, when the game kicks off you feel proud to have a Premier League pitch.”

It hasn’t always been easy

In 2005, Luton started to slip down the leagues. They had two administrations and staff weren’t getting paid on time. Richard expanded on this tough period at the club: “We were worried about if the place would survive. I had a young family in those days so, despite not wanting to leave the club, I had to look at a plan B. I have loved what I have done here, but if you aren’t getting paid you have to think of the alternatives.”

“We got punished with point deductions, had five years in the Conference league and had problems with previous owners, but thankfully everything worked out. It is crazy to think, within ten years, we would be playing in the Premier League.”

About you

Richard started his career in turfcare at Tilsworth Golf Club. He worked as a greenkeeper for six years before moving to Kenilworth Road in 1994.

Richard told us how he got the job at Luton Town: “My father-in-law had two tickets to a game here. I came down and the pitch looked awful. I got talking to one of the grounds staff and he mentioned they were looking for a groundsperson.

I applied and had a few interviews… the rest is history.”