Nottingham Forest FC grounds manager Ewan Hunter and his assistant Matt Tietjen has claimed that the Dennis G860 is the club’s mower of choice.

When Ewan was appointed grounds manager in 2005, Matt was brought in as his assistant and the two have worked together ever since forming somewhat of a formidable partnership. The pitch at the City Ground Stadium is highly regarded winning numerous awards and has consistently been in the top five pitches in the Sky Bet Championship.

As part of the maintenance programme in preparing the pitch at the City Ground, Ewan, Matt and their other seven members of staff rely on the Dennis G860.

“I had a Dennis G760 when I worked at Rushden & Diamonds FC so I knew the brand quite well. In fact, when I first started here we had two G760’s and have since upgraded to the G860’s. They are our mower of choice – it is the ideal piece of kit.”

With a number of unique features and benefits, it is easy to see why the G860 is the ‘ideal’ mower for so many football groundsmen like Ewan and Matt. The machine has eleven quick changeover cassette options giving ultimate flexibility and a single power unit for many day-to-day maintenance tasks – something which Matt is particularly impressed with.

“On the G860 we’ve got the 8 bladed cutting cassette which we use to cut down to 25mm for match days and we use the sorrel roller as and when required. We’ve got the brush cassettes which we will use after a game to clean the surface up and we use the verti-cutter cassette once or twice a month during the growing season.”

“It is a very versatile piece of kit and it is just a simple case of changing the cassettes over depending on the job. Basically, you’ve got one piece of kit that can do five or six jobs.”

The G860 also features a large diameter front roller with an adjustable scraper which has been designed for a precise height of cut control, giving an excellent finish – something which is essential for a club of Nottingham Forest’s stature.

Nottingham Forest boasts an illustrious history and a stand within the stadium pays homage to the man responsible for helping to create a huge part of that history.

That man’s name is Brian Clough and the stand is a reminder that Nottingham Forest have a huge presence is English football. With that in mind, standards are extremely high as Ewan explains: “We have a number of televised games and obviously pitch presentation is important to every groundsman – we are all out to try and create the best possible playing surface we can.

“We get a very good quality of cut and a great pattern from the Dennis G860. It’s an extremely comfortable machine to use – it is well balanced and light weight so you’re not hammering the pitch with compaction. The G860 is also very reliable. It is an excellent piece of equipment.”

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