Having finished top of the Premier League last season, all eyes are on Chelsea now the new season is underway. And to keep Stamford Bridge in perfect playing condition, the stadium’s assistant head groundsman, Kevin Fowler, knew just what the club needed – a Toro ProCore 648 pedestrian aerator.

“I’ve actually been wanting this machine for years,” Kevin says of the club’s latest signing. “I’ve demoed it alongside other aerators, but others just don’t offer its consistency. It was just a matter of convincing my boss! I’m very pleased we’ve got it as it’s a good machine that does exactly what it says on the tin.”

Able to core faster than anything else in its class, Toro’s popular ProCore 648 is a self-powered, vertical corer with a large 48in/122cm working width that is half to twice as wide as competitors’ models. Ideal for getting surfaces back into play quicker than ever before, the ProCore is capable of aerating a Premiership football pitch in around three hours and so is ideal for Chelsea’s needs.

“It provides consistent speed, depth, spikes and hole spacing,” Kevin continues. “It’s also light weight, which stops it from damaging the turf, plus it’s compact enough for stadium use. We have tractor-mounted aerators at our training ground, but we haven’t got a lot of room to manoeuvre around the perimeters of the stadium as turning circles are limited, so the ProCore is much easier to use than a tractor-mounted model.”

Kevin also says that the arrival of the ProCore has resulted in time and cost savings. “Having an aerator for the stadium saves on set-up and loading time as well as the transportation costs of getting the tractor mounted machine over here, so that really swung it for us. Overall, we’re very pleased with the service from our dealer AT Oliver and Lely and Toro. We’re looking forward to using the aerator this season as it certainly helped me with last year’s preparations.”

For more information on Toro turf maintenance machinery, contact your local Toro dealer or call distributor Lely UK on 01480 226800 or email toro.info.uk@lely.com. Alternatively, visit http://www.toro.com/.