Paul Burgess has achieved something of a legendary status among groundsmen – and it’s not hard to see why. In this exclusive and candid interview, he shares his thoughts on the state of Premier League groundsmanship, battling complacency, career highlights thus far, and why home truths are the key to improving standards and recognition….

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Paul Burgess at home with only the Turf Business TV cameras to cope with.

What has been the biggest success in your career? It’s a question we pose to Paul Burgess, Head Groundsman at Real Madrid C.F., in his back garden in Madrid. Fresh from preparing the pitch for the Champions League Semi Final, he takes his time before answering: the twelfth player.

“Probably one of my biggest successes in my career happened when I was at Arsenal. Whenever you asked for money for the grass, the club’s attitude was, you want £20,000 for something for the grass? It seemed crazy, and at the time, it was very difficult getting money to do things – and then I got the club to change the mentality. I got the club to view the pitch as the twelfth player, and all of a sudden when ‘he’ became a twelfth player, £20,000 is like a two-minute wage for a superstar! Now, the numbers made sense and from that moment going forward, trying to get money for things became a lot easier. That mentality is now not only at Arsenal, I think it is everywhere.”

It isn’t the first success story he’ll venture during our talk, an interview in which he also shares plenty of strong opinions. Our discussions range from unsung glory to what constitutes a great groundsman, and of course his move from Arsenal to Real Madrid in 2009, a move that Arsène Wenger dubbed “the most amazing transfer during the window.”

His career in groundsmanship seemed destined from early doors, when at 14 years old and football-mad, Paul read an article on then-Head Groundsman at Arsenal Steve Braddock. “I thought, that sounds quite interesting, so I went to school and said I wanted to do work experience as a groundsman at Blackpool FC.”

His work experience lead to a summer job, and a permanent position followed – before the Premier League beckoned. He joined Arsenal at 18 years old, and when the development of the training site saw the Steve move to head up the new venture, Paul took over his position as Head Groundsman at the stadium at the tender age of 21. Today, Paul still counts Steve as a confidant, and can often be found on the phone to industry figures such as Darren Baldwin (a man he names as one of the most “forward-thinking groundsman in the Premier League”) or Dave Roberts.

He’s also frequently on Twitter (“It reminds people that I’m still alive,”), and aside from keeping the lines of communication open with key turf players back home, the social media platform also acts as a conduit between Paul and the press, as public speaking has been something of a barrier to this relationship so far.

“No one gets more frustrated about that than me,” he says. “I think I have got a really nice story to tell. I am not scared of being asked a question that I don’t know the answer to, because there are plenty of things I don’t know. But maybe my career would be better – would have been better – if I was able to do more public speaking. I have done well, but who knows where it could have taken me – I would surely be a bigger name.”

A Toro Procore at work at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

In Madrid, Paul need not be concerned with being a bigger name. Throughout the course of our post-match outing, he’s stopped countless times for photos with autograph-hungry fans. Far from being just “the gardener” (there’s no equivalent term for groundsman in Spanish), Paul is a standout star in his own right. And yet despite having a team of 48 staff, he still enjoys the practical side of the job, and is often found marking the pitch lines himself – albeit warily when the media is around to watch.

“I have a camera on me at every game following me around,” he says. “When I am speaking, I have to cover my mouth because if I don’t, they make up what I am saying and put subtitles, and usually it’s not what I have said. I have to be really careful.”

Learning how to handle the pressure of the press has been part of the job for Paul, whose formal training extends to NVQ Level 3. The rest of his education has been garnered through experience, and from attending events to keep abreast with the latest technology and developments.

When looking at the state of groundscare Stateside, Paul notes that there is a higher focus on education than experience, and also that this balance tips the other way when examining the groundsmanship in the UK. He’s also quick to add that experience is no substitution for innovation – an area in which Paul believes there is substantial room for improvement.

“I think the standards in the UK are good, but they could be a lot better. When I look at the Premier League for instance, I don’t see any progress; what I was doing in the Premier League 10 years ago with regards to lights, nothing has changed. Nothing has moved on one bit in the last decade.”

When speaking of lights, he is of course referencing the time he became the first groundsman in the world to buy lighting rigs for use on a whole football pitch back in 2005, a feat for which he doesn’t believe he receives the acknowledgement he deserves. The investment set a new bar for Premier League clubs, a home truth he doesn’t shy away from.

“When I left Arsenal – and this is going to be painful for some groundsmen to hear, but I don’t care – Arsène Wenger said that I didn’t only make the Arsenal pitch the best, but that I improved every single pitch in the Premier League by bringing in lights. Suddenly we’d raised the bar and good wasn’t good enough – you had to be really good.”

Other teams needed to react, and react they did. Tottenham bought lights. Manchester United bought lights. Indeed any Premier League team that wanted to compete with the quality of his pitch soon made the investment, and even though lighting rigs are now a standard feature in most major stadiums, the fact that the first lights were on Paul’s pitch is one he feels is often overlooked. “I think I should have been recognised for that – the only person who did was Wegner,” he says. “It is a disappointment when I look back on my career; I mean, I sleep okay at night, but it would have been nice to have some recognition for that.”

But while things such as the aforementioned lighting rigs or hosting events can help drive groundsmanship forward, other and altogether more common practices have in Paul’s mind set the industry back. The primary culprit?

Renovations. Where 15 years ago, all groundsmen were doing their own renovations, outsourcing to contractors has become the norm. But while this may seem like a more efficient use of resources, could it be that forfeiting the handling of this important part of pitch maintenance is putting groundsmen at a disadvantage?

“I don’t think there are many (groundsmen) that have the skillset or who want the responsibility to do their renovations in-house,” says Paul. “The problem is that every groundsman wants that contractor in on the same day, which obviously can’t be done. So these contractors are tearing around all these pitches trying to do them all, which means somebody is getting their pitch renovated in conditions that aren’t ideal, because it is not sunny every day of the week.

“You are gambling on that day having good conditions, and if it’s not the result you want, you have to live with that renovation for the next 12 months.”

The fact that a groundsman would sooner gamble on their pitch than invest their own time is a source of frustration for Paul – one of many.

Frustration rears it’s head again when the subject of Britain being home to the best groundsman is raised. In international eyes, Britain is renowned worldwide for creating and exporting the best groundsmen in the world – Paul himself a prime example. But the subject raises questions about what the standard of being the “best” really entails.

“I think British groundsmen are the best, but it can be a lot better – there is no doubt about it,” he says candidly. “I get frustrated because I keep hearing we are the best – well, really if this is the best, then I don’t think the rest is that good. There is so much more we can do, and especially in this day and age. We need to start having standards – virtually every industry in the world has standards and in the turf industry, it just seems to be, is it green or not? Things have to change.”

In Paul’s view, an increased accountability will not only lead to the standards of groundsmanship being amplified, but it will also improve the perception of the job, and heighten the standards, recognition and rewards that accompany it. If the pitch is the twelfth player, could this be an opportunity for the groundsman perhaps become the thirteenth?

It is indisputably the case that technology and machinery has forged ahead in the past 10 to 15 years – everything from hybrid pitches to aeration techniques along with turf science as a whole has seen vast improvement. However, for Paul, these changes may have made things easier for groundsman to the point that the skills and knowledge required to use them may have slowed to a standstill. Case in point, the length of time a groundsman can be out of the game and return without being hampered by a skills gap.

“I really rate Dave Roberts and he’s a friend, so hopefully he won’t mind me using him as an example,” says Paul. “Dave had been out of professional football for 15 years or so working at private school. Then, he comes back and walks into one of the top five jobs in the UK – he can do that because in the last 15 years, everyone has been standing still.

“Would you get on an airplane when the pilot hasn’t flown for 15 years? Would you have heart surgery if the doctor hadn’t operated for 15 years? He’s been out of football for 10 to 15 years and is now one of the top two or three groundsmen in the game. That, to me, tells me there has not been much progress.”

“This stadium is iconic and Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world.” – Real Madrid ‘gardener’ Paul Burgess.

Paul’s passion for progress is tangible. He has made a great deal of his own since arriving at Santiago Bernabéu, namely through adapting to the fact that the venue is an events stadium rather than just a football stadium. Events are held on more or less a daily basis, and then Paul and the team have two weeks before the start of the season.

“Obviously at the beginning I didn’t like that at all, but it’s a good learning curve. At the end of the day, I cost money, my department costs a lot of money, and they need to therefore make money. When I look at the UK stadiums, I don’t see many profit-making green departments.

“They shut down their business for three months of the year – name another industry in the world where they are only open for business nine months of the year! It makes no sense. It doesn’t have to be pop concerts, it could be anything – it’s not my job to say what they should do, but these pitches should make money and they’re not.”

While sites like Wembley and Twickenham may have already experienced life as a multipurpose venue, other stadiums throughout the UK are not immune, according to Paul. In fact, it is embracing the fact that stadiums will be used all year round that could present opportunities rather than challenges.

One such opportunity could be to work alongside the marketing manager and presenting ideas for the way the pitch could generate revenue. “If I owned a football club, the Head Groundsman would be working in the marketing department,” he says.

“After the club and the players, the most marketable thing in the football club is the pitch.” Paul adds that groundsman are best placed to know if the pitch is capable of handling another fixture – information the marketing team won’t necessarily have unless told. It’s taking the initiative to breach these barriers in communication that can help clubs – and ultimately the grounds teams within them – reach new pinnacles of success.

Speaking of success, we return to the subject. Paul’s career as a groundsman and UEFA consultant has presented many opportunities, and has enabled him to travel and enjoy incredible experiences. In the weeks following our interview, Real Madrid went on to win the Championship League Final in a stunning match – an event Paul was at in a spectator capacity. Surely this must be one of many highlights in what has already been an impressive career?

“After seven years, I think my career highlight is just walking into the stadium every day,” he says. “This stadium is iconic and Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world. I have had many amazing days and nights, weekends here, and I think it would be wrong to dismiss one over another…though I’ll tell you, my biggest highlight is really watching my two children speaking to each other in Spanish! That is probably another highlight. Just being a part of this wonderful club is an honour and a privilege.”