Wolverhampton Wanderers FC have recently purchased seven Dennis PRO 34R rotary mowers and deputy head groundsman Anthony Parker claims they have made a huge improvement to turf maintenance operations at both the Molineux Stadium and the Club’s Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground.
Since the 2016 takeover by Fosun – a Chinese conglomerate and investment company, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, one of the greatest names in early professional football and one of the first of the Football League’s 12 founder members, are back where they belong.
Promoted back to England’s top flight and impressing on their return to the Premier League, exciting times lie ahead after the Club finished in a very respectable 7th position and continue to make their presence known in the transfer market. However, while it may well be the results on the pitch which are grabbing the headlines, improvements are also being made behind the scenes.
“It just all seemed to come together at the same time,” said Anthony. “The new owners arrived and more investment was available for equipment, the club were doing well and it just all went hand in hand.”
At a time when the Club was investing in new turf maintenance equipment the Dennis PRO 34R was launched and Anthony explained why the purchase of these new machines became the number one priority.
“We used to use six small rotary mowers which did a decent job but because of the additional pitch lighting we purchased, we needed to take more staff off the rotaries in order to have more help putting the lighting rigs out during the winter months. When we saw the PRO 34R’s come to the marketplace, it just made complete sense to get a fleet of these in so we purchased four for the training ground and three for the stadium.”
The Dennis PRO 34R is a 34" (860mm) rotary mower which has been designed to help groundsmen achieve an aesthetically pleasing appearance and desired playing surface. It is ideal for sports pitches producing the enviable 'Dennis Stripes' while a powerful vacuum flow collects debris quickly and efficiently.
The angle of the cutting deck and twin blades can be easily adjusted using a single 'click adjuster' ensuring the mower is suitable for changing conditions and meeting groundsmen's requirements.
Since its launch in 2018 the PRO 34R has received rave reviews with many groundsmen praising the machine and the speed of its operation.
“With these bigger machines you are allowing more staff to go elsewhere to do additional jobs,” said Anthony. “At the training ground we didn’t rotary cut very often because it was such a time consuming task – normally we had to wait until the first team were off for a day and then maybe six of us would get on the small rotaries and it would take quite a while.
However, with these new PRO 34R’s the staff are using them straight away after a training session to clean the pitches up. They are using them every day and they have improved the pitches no end.
"It is a very user friendly machine and it is extremely adaptable because it has so many different gears. If the time allows then you can go over the pitch as slow as you want cleaning up all the debris efficiently but it is also incredibly quick – you put it into fourth gear and you are done in no time at all. You can get a pitch cleaned up in about 40 minutes with three of you.
“It is great when you leave the stadium after a match-day knowing everything has been done and everything is clean – it certainly helps me sleep easily!”
At the stadium, Anthony and the team use the PRO 34R and the Dennis G860 in conjunction by relying on the rotaries to cut down to 25mm before switching to the cylinder mowers for the final presentation cuts (23mm) in preparation for match-day.
While the G860 has long been the industry’s number one mower of choice for presentation, Anthony is hugely impressed with the finish achieved by the PRO 34R.
“The finish on the rotaries is absolutely superb and I think you could even use them for a match-day cut because they will provide presentation of the highest quality.”
For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com
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