After
taking on the maintenance of an additional stadium, Southampton Football Club
is continuing its 16-year relationship with TYM Tractors and has invested in a
new T503 tractor to help with the extra workload.
A new
partnership between Southampton Football Club and AFC Totton has seen the
Saints’ women’s team play their home games and train at AFC Totton’s Testwood
Stadium this year, and as a result Southampton FC’s grounds team has taken on
the site’s maintenance.
Andy
Gray, Southampton FC’s grounds manager, explains: “Taking over maintenance of
the new stadium, alongside our own St Mary’s Stadium and Staplewood training
ground is certainly a challenge, which is why we’ve invested in a new TYM
Tractor to help take on the task.”
The new
T503 joins three other T503 mid-duty tractors which have recently been replaced
like-for-like, and added three new T293 compact utility tractors, says Andy:
“Over the past three years we’ve been updating our fleet and most recently
added a T503 for the Testwood Stadium, which brings our fleet of TYM tractors
up to seven.
“We
updated the fleet with a mix of like-for-like upgrades and new additions
because we’ve been using TYM Tractors since 2003 and they’ve never let us down.
The T503 is easy to use and as we know from experience, reliable, and the T293
is great because of its compact size – we use it for the smaller daily jobs to
reduce the stress on the turf. We’ve definitely seen a big improvement to the
grounds because of that.”
And it
seems the use of TYM at the club has created somewhat of a buzz locally, says
Andy. “Word of mouth has already spread about the quality of the pitch at AFC
Totton; we’ve had other clubs in the same league asking us how we maintain it
to such a high standard! Of course the answer is always: hard work combined
with high quality machinery.”
“Despite
the challenge the extra work provides, the whole team are behind the
partnership with AFC Totton,” says Andy. “Partly because Testwood Stadium is
also used by local community groups and giving them, as well as the women’s
team, the best pitch possible is a great way to give back.”
With the
Staplewood training ground and Testwood Stadium needing maintenance on a
near-daily basis, the TYM tractors are in constant use carrying out a variety
of jobs.
“The TYM
tractors work perfectly for the jobs we need them to do, from seeding and
aerating to moving equipment,” says Andy. “The icing on the cake is the service
from Reesink Turfcare. They only deal with the best machinery brands and are
always able to get us what we need. As well as TYM, we’ve been using Toro –
which Reesink distributes in the UK – for 20 years, and that’s not likely to
change.”
Scott
Turner, TYM regional sales manager from Reesink, adds: “We are very proud to
have a long-term working partnership with Andy and his team, in addition to DJ
Scott Garden Machinery who first supplied TYM to the club and, since Reesink
took over distribution, have provided them excellent servicing and maintenance.
"The
TYM fleet Southampton FC has invested in has proved to be a great benefit to
their multiple sites and we look forward to continuing this relationship and
providing support in the future.”
