Administrator axes Head Groundsman

Groundsman suffers from Leicester City`s Mismanagement

Leicester City groundsman, Chris Parry, was today made redundant by Leicester City`s Administrators. As the players received all the necessary assurances that their jobs would be safe, for his six and a half years service to the club, Chris was given the boot out of the door.

The savings made by getting rid of Chris`s job equate to little more than the monthly tax bill of one of the club`s first team players. But, of course, it would be out of the question to ask any of them to make such a sacrifice!

Chris`s exit is all the more galling when you take into account some of the comments made by the Plc chairman, Greg Clarke

"The most important thing is that the Board have handed over to an administrator with enough cash to keep running the club effectively, so there is no need to break up the squad and they can continue to pay the players, to support Micky Adams and move ahead - it isn't a crisis where the administrator walks through the door and has to fire everyone because there is no cash in sight. It is not that sort of administration. We have given them the cash to give us time.

I suspect that on the commercial side of the business rather than the playing side of the business there will be significant cuts to reduce our cost base going forward. They are decisions that the administrator will make - but I expect him to try and protect the playing squad because that is the future of the business.

Leicester City will come out of this stronger."

And a section from the club`s official statement relating to the administration -

`The directors of the Group would like to record their appreciation of the support of all parties to the restructuring process. In particular directors would like to acknowledge the Professional Footballers Association and players of the Club for their good faith negotiations, which enabled an in principal agreement of a wage deferment. The Directors also acknowledge the efforts of the football management team and the players for the success achieved so far this season and the commitment of the Club's supporters.`

Comment - How comforting it must be for Chris, and other groundsmen in similarly precarious positions, to hear that the club are doing all they can to keep the players happy, as he is planning to spend Christmas on the dole. Not for the first time, the so-called professionals in the game have demonstrated how unimportant they consider the work of their groundstaff.

The message is loud and clear - the status and standing of a professional groundsman is zero. They are expendable. And what does the industry do about it? What support do we give Groundsmen and Greenkeepers in this situation?

Exactly the same as the clubs - ZERO!

Have your own say on the situation in the Message Board and, if you should know of any jobs going, give Chris a call.