| John Deere Press Room 2007 |
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John Deere compacts in Light training
Sunderland Football Club’s latest summer signings are already busy on the training ground, getting ready for the club’s return to the Premiership big-time.
Academy of Light head grounds man Glenn Campbell and his team of seven grounds staff are using two new John Deere compact tractors recently bought from local dealer Greenlay (Grass Machinery) of Cramlington, Northumberland. With over 9ha (22 acres) of grass pitches to maintain, the tractors are destined for use all year round, mainly for aerating, fertilising, re-seeding and general materials handling duties around the site. In all 12 Sunderland teams play and train at the Academy, from the first team down to the U8s.
The medium chassis 3320 30hp and large chassis 4320 46hp models replaced two older machines, including a John Deere 4700, which was used during the autumn and winter months with a Weidenmann Verti-drainer. “The 4700 was a fantastic machine,” says Glenn. “With the Verti-drainer attached it took around seven hours to do one pitch, and was usually guaranteed to do two or three pitches once a week, so the new 4320 is likely to get the same heavy use come the end of the year. With the cab and front loader fitted, it’s a true all-round, all-weather workhorse.
“The smaller 3320’s main job is fertiliser spreading, so it’s already busy as we get all the playing surfaces ready for pre-season use, which includes hollow coring, top dressing and re-seeding.”
Both models use a standard three range, twin pedal eHydro transmission featuring John Deere’s exclusive MotionMatch feature. Particularly on the 4320, which is equipped with a 400CX front loader, this makes it easier to switch between tasks such as loading and aerating, where different working speeds and transmission response times are required. The operator simply switches between pre-set speeds by pressing a button.
“We were totally happy with the John Deere 4700, so we felt it was the right move to get more or less the same again,” adds Glenn. “All the grounds staff are trained to use all the machines, and both the new tractors are very straightforward to operate and maintain, so anyone can jump on and do any job when required.”
The photographs show new apprentice grounds staff Michael Thompson (17) who is doing his Level 2 NVQ sports turf course at East Durham & Houghall Community College. Michael is pictured fertilising one of the academy youth team pitches with the John Deere 3320.
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