After nearly four decades in a job “which felt more like a hobby”, Everton Football Club’s head groundsman at their former Goodison Park home has retired.
Bob Lennon, 66, finished his last shift on Saturday after 38 years preparing the pitches at the Toffees’ Bellefield training ground and the historic stadium where the men’s first team played until their move to Hill Dickinson Stadium a year ago.
Lennon worked with 19 managers, including five caretakers, and rubbed shoulders with some of the Blues’ biggest legends.
‘No regrets’
“I knew this day has been coming for the past 12 weeks,” he said. “But I’ve got no regrets. I think it’s my time to finish now.”
He said when his wife Carole asked how he felt about his retirement, he replied: “It’s like another chapter in your book of life.”
Lennon added: “This is the end of one chapter, a very big chapter mind. But as I say, tomorrow’s another page, another chapter.
“You can’t look back, you just look forwards.
“It’s been an absolute joy working with people here. It’s been more like a hobby than a job because you come into work whistling and it doesn’t make a difference if it’s pouring down with rain or snowing.”
‘All great characters’
Lennon said he would find himself having “banter with Colin Harvey, Howard Kendall, Terry Darracott, Paul Power and all the players, people like Ian Snodin, Neville Southall, all great characters.”
Of all the managers he worked with, he described Harvey as “the most demanding”.
“He was an absolute diamond but he was very demanding. So, so professional.”
‘It had to be done right then’
Lennon had worked for Liverpool City Council as a horticulturist before joining the Bellefield groundstaff in 1988 when Harvey was manager.
“It was so stressful because in that environment you couldn’t say ‘we’ll do that tomorrow’ it had to be done right then,” he said.
“If I’d said to Colin Harvey or Howard Kendall, ‘I’ll cut that pitch tomorrow’ they’d say ‘No lad, I want it done now. I’ve got multi million pound players playing on that pitch, I want it done now.’
“That’s the way it was.”
The matches that weren’t lost to the weather
Lennon said he was proud to have only lost a handful of matches to the weather during his time at Goodison Park and rarely because of the pitch.
“We lost one match against Crystal Palace because of high winds,” he remembered. “The pitch was immaculate.
“And there was another when the pipes at the Bullens Road End, which date back to the 1920s, had frozen solid meaning the toilets, the bars and the snack bars couldn’t be opened.
“It was a Sky match and they’d been asking me all week if the pitch was going to be playable. I assured them it would be, and it was. But no one saw frozen pipes causing the issue!”
A new fan
Now that he is retired, Lennon said he planned to spend more time in his own garden and with his grandchildren. And after nearly 40 years on the inside, he will finally be able to attend matches only as a fan.
“I’m looking forward to that,” he said.
“Everton should be one of the top clubs in the country, the fans here are second to none. They are absolutely fantastic.”
The bottom line
Nineteen managers. Thirty eight years. One immaculate pitch.
Bob Lennon saw it all. Colin Harvey. Howard Kendall. Neville Southall. The glory years. The hard years. The move away from Goodison.
He never lost a match because of his pitch. The wind and frozen pipes beat him but never the turf.
Now he’s off to tend his own garden. And finally watch Everton as a fan.
After 38 years of service, he’s earned the rest. And the club has lost one of its own.
