Henri Lansbury released to Arsenal training ground, but not yet on the pitch at the Emirates
Henri Lansbury returned to Hale pitch End, 15 years after graduating from Arsenal's famous academy. Butterflies beat in his stomach. The nerves aren't about football, though.
Lansbury remains close to the maintenance staff, and when he recently bought new lawn mowers, they invited him in. “Honey, I’ll be right there,” he said. his answer.
Lansbury dreams of one day carving out the Emirates pitch. It was a mini audition. “I started well,” he begins seriously. Then he laughs. «Then they started talking to me and I was like, 'Don't talk to me, don't talk to me.' My strip was terrible… they had to redo it!”
Weed is the passion of a 33-year-old who recently retired.
It all started when a gardener abandoned Lansbury's lawn during lockdown. He quickly called a friend to borrow the necessary kit. It was love at first sight. “It’s immediately gratifying, isn’t it?” Lansbury's eyes widen. The euphoria is real. «I looked back and thought, 'Wow!' That's all. I mowed three times a week.”
Since then, summers have turned into organizing parties for his children, at which Lansbury relishes his parents' praise. “When they come in and say, 'Wow, look at your grass' … that's like scoring a goal for me.”
Not that Lansbury values his sacred territory. “Trampolines, bouncy castles — I want them there. The dog flies around, turning it all upside down. I just take out my little fork to replace the pits. They ruined everything, and this gives me a reason to come back.»
Not content with tending the family lawn, Lansbury bought a cheap white van. The “eccentrics” came, showed him the running engine and quickly left. “The central locking did not work; the side door did not open; it was falling apart. I've already wrapped it up and there's an astro in the back for lawnmowers.»
Lawnist Lad Lansbury and his grass care van < p>Last season the car appeared at the Luton Town training ground, where Lansbury developed the area. His pride in his teammates' reactions is endearing: “I was sitting at breakfast one morning watching the boys go by. Some came and said, “They did the right thing with that piece of grass in front.” I was like, “I did it!”
“If I see a patch that needs cutting, I'll do it.”
Lansbury also mows for friends and family, and midweek he does “free haircuts on Tuesdays.” «.
Wait, what?
«If I see an area that needs trimming, I will stop and do it.»
What about diversification? “I don’t like making hedges or flower beds. It's not me. “I’m pure grass,” comes the reply, the last word lengthened by Lansbury’s north London twang.
Mowing is partly a mental crutch: “I need to be outside. If I'm locked in, I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. If I cut the grass and my wife gives me 10 chores, I will happily do them. But if she says I can't cut the grass and wants me to do all the housework, I say, “No, I need to cut the grass.”
Lansbury's passion for lawn care began during lockdown
It has become more than just a hobby. Lansbury realized there was a gap in the market the size of organic fertilizer, and his company Grass Gains filled it. They now supply Fulham and Genk. He would like to fertilize Arsenal's first team pitch, but his focus is now on retail. “A lot of it has to do with branding. You see other companies… all plastic boxes, pretty dull, pretty boring. I'm just trying to elevate the gardening world.»
Then comes the subliminal, heartfelt sales pitch: “If you make your grass beautiful, it will look like another room in the house. You can add 10-15 thousand pounds if you have good grass. Don't just throw all the trash into the garden. Many of our complaints relate to grass not growing in certain areas. It's full of bricks, full of plastic. They kill the soil. Our product lifts the soil and helps it recover.”
“Football is a scary industry”
Lansbury's summer departure — after 375 appearances over 16 seasons, including for Aston Villa, Luton, Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Norwich — was forced by injury. Rob Edwards offered him a part-time job at Luton, but Lansbury needed a break. And his business life suits him. “People don't take me seriously in meetings,” he says. “I'm pretty straightforward. I'm like, 'Are you wasting our time, or are we going to get a decent deal?'
Lansbury's harshness stems from his football dealings. “Football is in the middle. This is what I always did with contract workers, agents, and managers. The more honest you are, the better the result.”
He cites October 2020 as an example, when he was dropped from Dean Smith's 25-man Villa squad. Lansbury has no quarrel with Smith or his team, but in a meeting with sporting director Johan Lage he was offered to leave for just 20 percent of the contract value:
“He said: “Sign it here and I'll help you get more one club.» I replied: “If I sign this, tomorrow you won’t even know my name.” They treated me almost like I was less of a man. To be put in a situation like that, kicked out of the locker room, not being able to train with the team. Not that I ever caused any problems.»
Eventually a solution was reached and Lansbury left for Bristol City for a short time. “It’s a scary industry,” he continues. “This is all one person’s opinion. If one man doesn't like you, he may turn another group of men against you. And then the game is over.»
«Kenilworth Road brought the teams down to earth»
Lansbury's mentality is old school: he only recently opened up about testicular cancer, back in 2016, while at Forest. “It came from that world… a stigma for men, didn't it? «Just keep going. But a lot of guys have written to me and said, 'Thank you for opening up.' If I can help somebody…that's the main goal.»
England youth international, Lansbury has grown up trying to impress Pat Rice, Neil Banfield and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. “They were next level,” he says. “Now he’s so soft. You can't shout at them; You can't swear at them. It’s all “bad luck”, “it could have been better”, but before they tore off my head. This is what half made me.
“I went on loan to Scunthorpe at 16 — then you understand the real meaning of football. Some of the guys who play for the under-23s now have no chance of making it.”
Softness was not an issue at Luton. After losing in the 2021/22 play-offs, the team performed better at Wembley in May. “A lot of people were afraid of us,” Lansbury says. “The faith in the locker room that year was incredible. Mentally we knew we were going to go up.”
Lansbury was part of the Luton team that were promoted to the Premier League at the end of last season. Photo: Offside/Mark Leach
And then there was the Kenilworth Road factor: “It just brings you down to earth, doesn’t it? The locker rooms are cold and smell of urinals and intense heat. People are thinking, “What am I doing here on a Tuesday night?!” And then we appeared. Tuesday night, two-zero, nonsense. Three points. Back on the road.”
Football may well lure Lansbury back one day. But for now, «on the road» means traveling to fulfill Real Madrid's order for a dozen Germinators, his company's seed-planting implements.
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