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I played 150 games for Nottingham Forest but I now run unique company after retiring
Former Nottingham Forest midfielder Henri Lansbury has revealed that he has turned to turf after retirement. Lansbury played 150 matches for Forest in a four-and-a-half year spell between 2012 and 2017 before moving to Aston Villa, and he retired in 2023 having helped Luton Town reach the Premier League.
Still only 34 even now, Lansbury has remained in football without actually kicking a ball - and it isn't the ball which takes his interest these days anyway. Since retiring, the Arsenal academy product has dedicated his time to his business venture, which he founded while still playing. Grass Gains is the lawn fertiliser company Lansbury now promotes, with his products available in various high street outlets.
Turf Business even crowned him the Turf Influencer of the Year for 2023, an award which reflects his newfound passion following the end of his playing days. Lansbury has since provided products for Fulham, Genk and Monaco and he has mown the Gunners training ground pitches, too.
"I just love grass, and the reason I got it was because I was creating awareness for the rest of the greenkeepers, ground carers... you don't realise, until you actually step into their shoes, just how much actually goes into keeping that pitch pristine," he said. "That's anything, football pitches, golf courses... so much goes into it and it's only since I got into all of this, and started speaking to groundsmen, that I really understood it all... it was mind-blowing.
"So, then I started doing it a bit at home, and then I came up with this product - I guess nowadays I'd introduce myself as Turf Influencer and co-founder of Grass Gains. I'm just waiting for my trophy to turn up for Influencer of the Year, then it'll take centre stage in my office.
"My other half hates me for how much time I spend on the garden, I'm not going to lie! I've got moles in my garden at the minute, and we're also in the middle of doing our house up at the same time. As soon as I get a mole, I call someone, he's out the next day and it's fixed. This morning, someone came over to sort the problem out, and the other half is like 'oh, I thought it was an electrician; can we not fix the inside of the house before we fix the outside?!'
"The grass comes first for me. To be honest, I'll go to games now just to look at the pitch. I'm not too bothered about the football; I'd rather look at a nice pitch and speak to the groundsman.
"There are some lovely football pitches out there. The Etihad is great, I'd give a shout out to Craven Cottage, too, but the Emirates, for me, on the last day of the season earlier this year was unreal. It was cut at, like, 18ml, and the ball was just flying across it. That's short for a football pitch, but it was unreal.
"Work for me now is just seeing what we need to do to improve ourselves, at Grass Gains; see what needs doing, what the plan is. I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do after football, when I was in my 20s. I never really thought it was going to end, and then when it does end, you realise how quick it all went by."
Lansbury was speaking at the launch of Ladbrokes' Gaffer of all Accas event
