Manchester City’s City Football Academy (CFA) – the Premier League football club’s recently opened youth development and first team training centre in the heart of East Manchester – has continued its relationship with Toro for all its turf maintenance needs.

Steve Halley, MD of Cheshire Turf Machinery and Roy Rigby with the new Toro fleet.

The 80–acre regenerated brownfield site is adjacent to the Etihad Stadium and part of the wider 200 acres known as the Etihad Campus.

Following a deal made with local Toro dealers Cheshire Turf Machinery, five Toro Reelmaster 5510 mowers, two Multi Pro 5800 sprayers, five Workman MDX-D utility vehicles and a ProCore 1298 aerator have been welcomed on site, along with three TYM 603 tractors. 

MCFC grounds manager Roy Rigby, the man behind the decision to work with Toro, says it was a choice heavily based on reliability and his long history with the brand.

“The CFA has 16.5 football pitches in total, 13.5 of which are natural grass, so reliability is key. With Toro, I know that no matter what the weather, the machine will always turn on and get the job done to the same high standard time after time,” Roy says.

Having worked with Toro and Cheshire Turf Machinery for the past 25 years of his career, Roy says he’s developed a great relationship with both companies over the years. 

Managing a team of 18 people – 14 grounds staff at the new training grounds, and one landscaper and three grounds staff at the Etihad stadium – Roy says: “We already had Toro at MCFC’s old training grounds and I used Toro at Blackburn Rovers too, so I feel very comfortable with the machines, as do my grounds team.” 

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