Everton’s longest-serving groundsman has finally hung up his mower after 40 years tending the club’s pitches – and working under 19 different managers.
Bob Lennon has called time on an extraordinary career spent looking after the turf at Bellefield and Goodison Park.
The 66-year-old has devoted much of his life to keeping Everton’s pitches in pristine condition, caring for more than a million blades of grass and working alongside some of the club’s biggest names.
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On 30 May, Bob parked his mower for the final time and officially retired, as reported by What’s The Jam.
Throughout four decades at Everton, he rubbed shoulders with legendary players, managers and backroom staff.
He said: “How do I feel? A bit pensive.
“I knew this day has been coming for the past 12 weeks.
“But I’ve got no regrets. I think it’s my time to finish now.
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“I think I’ve done more than what I should have done really.
“It’s been more like a hobby than a job because you come into work whistling and it doesn’t make a difference if it’s pouring down with rain or snowing.
“When I was at Bellefield you’d be having banter with Colin Harvey, Howard Kendall, Terry Darracott, Paul Power and all the players, people like Ian Snodin, Neville Southall, all great characters.”
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But retirement may not mean a complete break from gardening duties.
Bob revealed wife Carole already has plans for him back home.
He said: “My wife Carole is a radiographer and while she’s a very educated woman, she’s not very practical.
“We’ve got quite a big garden and I’ve landscaped it but one day I asked her to cut the grass.
“She did and it looked like Jimmy Martin [Everton’s former kit man] walking down the road after he’d had a few ales.
“So she’s lost that job. I still don’t know if she did it on purpose.
“So I’ll spend a bit more time on my own garden, I’ve got a load of DIY and decorating to do inside the house.
“We’ve got grandkids and the latest, Mae, is just 14 weeks old.
“I do a lot of coarse fishing so I can do more of that.”
Before joining Everton, Bob worked as a horticulturist for Liverpool City Council.
But life at a top-flight football club proved a very different challenge.
Over the years he worked under 19 managers, with the demands of elite football leaving little room for delay.
Bob said: “At the council I was doing trees, I was doing rock gardens, water features, everything, grass was just a side issue.
“But at Everton it was everything. It was so stressful because in that environment you couldn’t say ‘we’ll do that tomorrow’ it had to be done right then.
“If I’d said to Colin Harvey or Howard Kendall, ‘I’ll cut that pitch tomorrow.’ they’d say ‘No lad, I want it done now. I’ve got multi-million pound players playing on that pitch, I want it done now.’ That’s the way it was.”
While his working days at Everton are now over, Bob won’t be staying away from the club for long.
Next season he’ll be back in the stands supporting the Toffees as a fan.
He added: “I’m looking forward to that.
“Everton should be one of the top clubs in the country; the fans here are second to none. They are absolutely fantastic.”
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