Feature
[Arsenal Media](/author/arsenal-media-2) 10 Sep 2025
Our men's and women's teams have now both taken to a perfectly prepared Emirates Stadium pitch this season, despite a busy summer for our home venue - and thus our groundstaff.
After a host of play on the pitch events and some sell-out Robbie Williams concerts, our pitch was transformed from a hard, patchy surface to one filled with luscious green grass and ready for elite sport to take place on it. To find out how that happened, we sat down with Head Groundsperson Alan Russell:
**Why do we relay our pitch each year?**
The main reason is to protect it for the season ahead. If we didn’t, the surface would quickly deteriorate, drainage would slow, undesirable weed grasses would become more prevalent and a higher potential for turf diseases would exist, meaning we wouldn’t be able to give our teams the quality pitch they need to perform at their best.By starting fresh from seed, we can deliver the best possible playing surface for our men’s and women’s teams – helping them play the fast, flowing football our supporters love and, ultimately, perform at their best and compete for major trophies.
It also gives us the chance to keep open our doors over the summer, making Emirates Stadium available for unforgettable concerts, special events and the chance for our supporters to experience playing on the pitch themselves.
Off and on pitch
**Can you tell us a bit about what goes into relaying the grass?**
It takes a minimum of six weeks to get the pitch ready for the new season. It all starts during the season when we work out our renovation dates and put a plan of action together. We will test the soil to check if any amendments are needed, for example, its pH level.
We then remove all the vegetation and organic material, apply the amendment products, top dress with 90 tonnes of fresh sand, aerate to decompact and work the new material into the root zone. We then have the green light to start laying seed. Within five or six days the first shoots appear, and by day 10 to 12 we’re ready for the first cut. Grass naturally wants to go to seed and reproduce, so by cutting it early, we trigger its defence mechanisms. It then starts to grow vigorously, producing more leaves and growing more densely. From there, it’s a week-by-week process of monitoring for any signs of disease and coaxing it towards its peak in weeks four and five. At that stage, we use targeted treatments to encourage the grass to spread out and root deeper, making it stronger and more resilient. By the six-week mark, we’re just about match-ready and I'll be slightly more relaxed than at the start of summer!
**During that process, we see a lot of mowers, tractors, fans and other pieces of machinery working around the pitch. Which one is your favourite to operate?**
These days, I spend a lot of time behind the computer, but when I do get hands-on, I love using the Verti-Drain on the tractor. It's a machine that punches holes in the surface to aerate the pitch, which is such a crucial job as it allows the plant and root zone to breathe. But really, that's just a technical way of saying I love spending the afternoon on a tractor!
**What are the main challenges in refreshing the pitch, and how do you manage them?**The short answer: time and the weather! Our summers have been getting hotter in recent years, and with that heat comes the risk of disruptive turf diseases. We've seen varieties of diseases that have never been common in the UK start to appear and if not treated properly, they can wipe a pitch out overnight.
A couple of seasons ago we had a nasty grass disease called grey leaf spot. The team did brilliantly to spot it early and contain it before it caused serious damage. We’re always on high alert for these threats, and I’m proud of the record we have in keeping them under control.
Between them, our six-strong groundsperson team provide a seven-day-a-week service, 365 days a year, doing an incredible job looking after our pitch. Seeing the passion they bring to work each day inspires me every season.
**Getting the pitch season-ready is a big responsibility. What are your top tips for staying calm and getting the job done?**I've been at the club for 15 years now and I've learned to take each day as it comes, and rely on the experience we have together as a team. Going into the season knowing you're probably going to encounter a few problems is also a helpful mentality to have. There's never been a season where we haven't had to respond to a new challenge, but in truth, that's what I love about the job! When you're dealing with a climate as unpredictable as ours, plans can only ever really be plans, so enjoying the adaptability is a big part of the job to embrace. Over my career, I've seen most things that can go wrong now. If you see me panicking, it'll be because we've had 10ft of snow overnight which rarely happens thankfully!
**Finally, you've got an afternoon on your favourite tractor - what's on your headphones?**
I'll preface this by saying we all wear our ear defenders, as Health and Safety will confirm - but underneath those I'm all about radio comedy, particularly Radio 5 Live's show with Elis James and John Robbins. It can be a therapeutic way to spend an afternoon.
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