‘I was Arsenal talent loved by Wenger – now I sell the club fertiliser’ | Football | Sport

Former Arsenal star Henri Lansbury now supplies lawn care products to his old club following his retirement from professional football. The 35-year-old launched his company, Grass Gains, during the pandemic. Lansbury kicked off his professional career with the Gunners and Arsene Wenger even thought the midfielder would establish himself as a first-team regular, insisting 15 years ago: “He will be a big player for me.”

However, following a succession of loan spells and injuries, things didn’t materialise at the Emirates and Lansbury transferred to Nottingham Forest. From there, he experienced stints with Aston Villa, Bristol City and finally Luton Town, before hanging up his boots in 2023. Yet he has remained occupied in retirement. During the 2020 lockdown, Lansbury dedicated some of his time to gardening and identified a gap in the market for organic fertilisers.

He partnered with two expert groundsmen to create a range of products which he now supplies to Arsenal, other football clubs and the general public.

“During lockdown, I was training at home. I had my mates come around, spray the grass for weeds and all that. But they were all toxic. A lot of it’s been banned now,” said Lansbury, speaking on In The Mixer brought to you by Sky Bet.

“But obviously, you’ve got dogs and kids trying to go out there in lockdown. It was like, ‘No, you can’t go on it kids, you’ve gotta leave the grass 24, 48 hours.’ My wife asked if there was anything organic. She was going through one of her phases.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know, I’ll ask one of the boys.’ They came back saying there’s nothing on the market and I was like, ‘Can you make something?’ After that we’ve found a product and it just took off.

“I thought, ‘Everyone’s got to have this for their garden.’ From there it built up to every garden centre and we’re just trying to build, build, build. Now I play golf, I’m going to speak to all the greenkeepers trying to plug them Grass Gains!”

“It’s basically a professional product that all the stadiums are using, but in the retail market. We do little orders into Arsenal now as well.”

Since hanging up his boots, Lansbury has discovered another enthusiasm: maintaining lawns. The 35-year-old operates under the social media moniker The Lawn Lad, sharing clips of his handiwork, assisting customers with their gardens and treating pitches at football stadiums.

He explained: “I first did it and just thought, ‘Oh my God, this is unbelievable, cutting my grass.’ It was the stripes to begin with and then I started doing patterns in it.”

During his time at Luton, Lansbury marked a goal with a lawnmower celebration that became an internet sensation. He recalled: “I think that’s kind of what set it off a bit.

“I scored, I think it was Hull away. Then I pulled the cord up and then did it. Everyone was like, ‘What was that about?’ I was like ‘Oh, I’m the Lawn Lad.'”