Meet the Lifelong Manchester City Fan Who Works as Head Groundsman at the Etihad

It's Inside Manchester City Week at Bleacher Report, and day four brings an exclusive interview with the man responsible for City's immaculate playing surface at their Etihad Stadium.

More from Inside City Week—Dzeko exclusive, Angus Gunn exclusive, Toni Duggan exclusive, Best City Academy Stars

The pitch at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium is famed for its quality. Lee Jackson is the Head Groundsman, a lifelong City fan who had worked at the club for 23 years. Jackson has been nominated for the prestigious Premier League Groundsman of the Year Award multiple times, winning it in 2011.

I got the lowdown on Jackson's time at the club and what exactly goes into being Head Groundsman at one of the country's top clubs.

ROB POLLARD: You’re a fan of City who has risen up the ranks at the club to the position of Head Groundsman. Tell me about how you got involved with working for the club.

LEE JACKSON: It was purely by accident, I’ve got to be honest with you. It was for a school project back in 1990-91, and I actually went down to Maine Road, where City were at the time, to take some photos for the project. I got talking to the groundsman who was there at the time and I think out of courtesy, more than anything, he said: “If you fancy a job, keep in touch”. I don’t think he quite thought I would and, needless to say, I did, to the point where I was hounding him at one stage! So I left school in June ’91 and started at City in August ’91 and I’ve been here ever since.


RP: I presume you have a dialogue with the manager or Brian Kidd about the style of football the side want to play and what kind of grass best suits that style. How detailed is that process?

LJ: To be honest, with us, it’s probably not as detailed as you're imagining, because the guys train here before home games anyway, so what we would do at the start of the season is get the pitch as it should be and the manager would communicate that through the coaching staff back to us, but, by and large, all managers are pretty standard in terms of what they require and how they want the pitch watering etc. There’s very little difference between any of the Premier League clubs, to be honest, because most have the same exacting standards, as you can imagine.


RP: So there's no difference depending on who the opposition are?

LJ: There’s certainly no difference for me. I’ve never had anything from any manager about preparing the pitch differently for different teams. I know you do hear of it, but that doesn’t always mean it’s true. There’s been rumours of different things going on at other clubs, but whether it’s true or not I don’t know. But certainly with this manager and any other we've had, everything is prepared the same for every team and equally every level we’re preparing for, whether it’s the first team, reserve team or youth team. There’s no espionage element to what we do!

RP: The Etihad is often used for concerts and things in post-season. How easy is it to return the pitch to it’s best possible condition after an event like that?

LJ: It’s never easy. Concerts and me seem to go hand-in-hand. I first started in 1991, and at the end of my first week we had a concert, so it’s been with me from the start, but it’s something over the years we’ve fine-tuned as a club to a point where we’re happy. It’s a multi-use stadium and we're here to help facilitate that. We do trips all over to see how other clubs deal with it, and we’re always trying to improve what we do. With careful planning and everything that goes into it, we’re certainly in a good place to have these events for years to come.


RP: As both a fan and employee, in what ways has the ADUG takeover in 2008 changed the club?

LJ: Well, as a department, we were functioning normally beforehand, but, as you would expect, and not just for us but for every department at the club, when the investment came, the opportunity to make ourselves and our departments better came, and by doing that everyone has pulled together to make the club better. It’s certainly far removed from what it was before 2008, but, equally, prior to the takeover it was still a great place to work. It’s still a great place to work now, but obviously there’s a bigger profile for the club. Certainly not one I ever thought I’d see in my lifetime, that’s for sure.


RP: Do players ever come to you to moan about aspects of the pitch?

LJ: Again, like the managers, they expect a certain standard, and where possible we deliver that. It’s always nice when a player compliments the pitch, but equally you tend to find if you do get any criticism of the pitch it’ll be from an opposition player who’s been on the end of a good thrashing. As we all know, a pitch only ever suits a winning team, and thankfully over the last four or five years our home record has been up there with the best, so in that regard it’s never been an issue.  

RP: How important is recognition and awards for the quality of your pitch you deliver? Do you appreciate it when you’re work is recognised or is not important to you?

LJ: It’s important to get any recognition for what we do, and not just for us. The events teams have just won an award for their work last season, and there’s various departments winning awards for the standard of work. Obviously, since the takeover we’re more geared up to do that, but equally the greatest satisfaction I get personally is when the team are winning on it. Any amount of awards we may or may not get can replace what goes on on a Saturday or the Premier League wins we’ve had. Nothing can ever beat seeing that happen in front of your eyes, both as a supporter and the person responsible for looking after the pitch, when the team has just won the Premier League.


RP: The move from Maine Road to here…how difficult was that, both emotionally and practically, as a fan and staff member who had been there a long time?

LJ: If I’m being honest, it couldn’t come quick enough for me, because during our last season at Maine Road, everything was pretty much falling apart, from a pitch point of view. We had issues with irrigation, undersoil heating etc, so the time was right to move on.

I’m not one of these sentimentalists. I think it was done with the long-term benefit of the club in mind, and you look now at where we are and it’s certainly done that. It’s a shame, obviously, because there’s a lot of history there. My kids actually go to a school that’s sited on Maine Road, so I still see quite a lot of it. The time was right to move on, and what better facility than the one we have now, which has suited us for a number of years and we’re now expanding, as well.


RP: I still see Maine Road a lot, too, and I get a little bit upset that there isn’t that much around the area to remember the old ground.

LJ: With us being there for so long—I worked there for 12 years before we moved—you do feel a bit that way about the move. There are certain elements around there which remember the club, but I think you’re quite right in what you’re saying, there’s not a lot. It’s like with anything, though, as with any big city now, you’re getting people move in and out of it, so a lot of the people who live round there, and who are moving into those flats and houses, probably don’t have much association with the football club.

As a fan, it’s obviously a shame, but the school my kids go to is on Blue Moon Way, so there is a little bit of recognition there. They’ve also just done a plaque on one of the greens at the back, which is named after a former groundsman at City, which recognises where the centre spot was, but that’s only been there three or four months. To be fair, the area is still being developed, so even though it’s 12, 13 years since we moved out, it’s still not quite finished in terms of the regeneration.


RP: So, you’ve been at the club 23 years doing your dream job. How does it feel to be involved with the club you love in such a hands-on way?

LJ: I first started as an apprentice—the lowest position—and I’ve been very fortunate to work my way up to where I am now and become one of the two head groundsmen the club employ, myself and one at the training ground. To see what’s happened over the years—the yo-yoing of the '90s etc—seems a long time ago now, and obviously we’re in a fantastic position as a club, both on and off the pitch, in terms of what we do as a club, not just football-wise, but outside of that with the local community.

For me to have walked in here 23 years ago and ever think we would be where we are now...I never saw it happening, and it’s a fantastic thing to see, and it’s even better to be involved in. It’s great.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.