FEATURE | MENTAL HEALTH
“IT COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE” In a revealing debate about mental wellbeing at last year’s SALTEX, Wembley’s grounds manager Karl Standley opened up about how he suffered in a situation – which could happen to anyone – where he mistakenly thought the answer was to simply work longer and harder, only to arrive at thoughts of ending it all
Andy Carmichael Freelance writer
10 GROUNDS MANAGEMENT | JUNE 2020
KARL STANDLEY MOVED to the Wembley National Stadium in 2006 and, in subsequent years, he had been promoted by The Football Association (FA) to a point where, in 2016, he became head groundsman and responsible for the most famous, and commented on, football pitch in the world. (He was appointed grounds manager in March 2020.) While there had always been a lot of work and pressure involved in keeping the surface at the standard expected for cup finals and international matches, what often goes unreported are the number of other events hosted on the pitch. In 2017, not only were there charity games, corporate days and concerts but also the long-standing NFL London games. Tottenham Hotspur had also taken up residence while its stadium was being redeveloped, adding more than 30 additional fixtures. Managing this schedule to his satisfaction, and what Karl identifies as his “drive for perfection” in the surface, “simply became too much”, he says. Modern grounds management is not just about turf, it is also about project leadership across multiple, and sometimes competing, concerns. Imagine that, with the results constantly being watched and commented on by a worldwide audience of millions.
