Richard Norton has left the Head Groundsman role at Bolton Wanderers FC. He had been with the club for 24 years.

He moved on after the game against Nottingham Forest last month, to take up a position in the Middle East with a building firm. He will also assist with the pitches to be used at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

In a lengthy interview with the Bolton News, which is well worth a read, Richard talks of the difficulties he faced when the club first moved to the Reebok Stadium. He says, "People ask me has it been a labour of love, well it’s certainly been a labour. When we moved to the stadium everyone was marvelling at the building but you have to understand grass is a living product, it has to be nurtured and loved. Someone has to be out there every day with it.

“At the time we started talking about what surface would be used, FibreSand had just come in and we were assured by the people building it that the light and the air movement would be okay for us to use it.

“But when they put the roof on the stadium we knew right away we’d have problems.

“It was a steep learning curve in that first couple of seasons. The product was right but the light levels were too low to grow grass on the west wing.

“Subsequently we were proved right in the next few years. It became very unstable."

In the interview Richard goes on to talk about how getting to the Premiership allowed more money to be available for the pitch, to eventually get it to a level they could be proud of. He also doesn't rule out a return to Bolton in the future.