Coup de Grass: The Grumpy Groundsmen Turned Turf Revolutionaries

This is Unsung. Introducing the sports stars you don’t know, telling the stories you can’t miss.&nbsp;In episode two&nbsp;we’re featuring football ground staff.&nbsp;For most viewers of a football match, the pitch is merely a blank canvas awaiting its art. But before the artistry must come to the science. These days it takes more than a pitchfork and a mower to get the game’s top turfs up to standard.&nbsp;In this episode, Alexis James&nbsp;speaks to two of the best grounds managers in the business to discover&nbsp;how today’s ground staff have transformed from crabby Greenfingers into techie agronomists.Tony Stones was&nbsp;once&nbsp;in charge of the turf at Barnsley’s Oakwell Stadium, before being&nbsp;tasked&nbsp;with overseeing new Wembley’s troublesome turf. After working his magic at the home of English football, he was asked to do the same in Paris. As head groundsman at the Stade de France, Tony has a few tales to tell about his time working with Didier Deschamps’ World Champions.John Ledwidge is head of sports turf and grounds at Leicester City, where their state-of-the-art training ground is home to the world’s first Sports Turf Academy. John discusses some of the turf techniques revolutionising the industry,&nbsp;which&nbsp;might&nbsp;just&nbsp;make you think again about the perception of British grounds staff.&nbsp;If you enjoy the&nbsp;podcast,&nbsp;then be sure to get a copy of Alexis’ new book.&nbsp;Unsung: Not All Heroes Wear&nbsp;Kits is published by Pitch Publishing and available&nbsp;from&nbsp;all&nbsp;your favourite book outlets.Along with more from Tony, John and other ground staff, you’ll be able to read never-before-told tales from Formula 1 mechanics, Olympic snowmakers, rugby medics, anti-doping officials, cycling moto pilots, and more from sport’s unheralded heroes. Head to unsungbook.com for more&nbsp;information&nbsp;or&nbsp;follow @UnsungBook on Twitter and&nbsp;Instagram.&nbsp;And make sure to subscribe to the podcast to be the first to know about new&nbsp;episodes.Quotes:“In groundsmanship, everybody knows if you let the underdogs train on the pitch first, they're going to do it over because that's going to give them an advantage, to make the pitch bobbly.&nbsp;So,&nbsp;Portsmouth came and hammered it, then did a&nbsp;penalty&nbsp;shoot-out. Then Petr Cech came on and said,&nbsp;'why am I playing on a potato field?'."“When Didier Deschamps first came to the stadium they were saying,&nbsp;'you can't talk to him, it's forbidden.' But you've got to talk to the guy to find out what you need to deliver for him.&nbsp;So,&nbsp;I went up to him and said,&nbsp;'how do you want me to address you, boss or gaffer?’&nbsp;He said,'call me boss.' I'm like, right, boss, what do you want me to deliver? And he&nbsp;said,&nbsp;'short and wet'.&nbsp;So,&nbsp;what I've been doing for England. And he's like, 'ah, so you are the English guy, I expect good things.' And then, of course,&nbsp;I produced&nbsp;the&nbsp;playing surfaces to get them into the World Cup, which they went on to win.""We are a cog in a big machine. But I think we're quite an important one. The players do up to about 90% of their work on our pitches. And I think it's important that we embrace the understanding of what's going on underneath their feet.""We have a massive bearing on the outcome of a game. If we don't get the moisture or the height of a cut right, it could kill a game. And we work closely with our manager. We know what he likes, and he trusts and respects us for what we do.”Explore&nbsp;more&nbsp;France v Portugal: Euro 2016 final highlightshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYKdqqe7YA0Moths invade the pitch at the final of Euro 2016<a...