'I was set for greatness at Arsenal – now I sell the club fertiliser as a garden guru'

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Former Arsenal star Henri Lansbury now sells lawn care products to his old club after retiring from football. The 35-year-old started his company, Grass Gains, during the pandemic.

Lansbury began his professional career with the Gunners and Arsene Wenger even believed the midfielder would become a first-team regular . But after a series of loan moves and injuries, things didn't work out at the Emirates and Lansbury joined Nottingham Forest .

From there, he enjoyed spells with Aston Villa , Bristol City and finally Luton Town , before calling it quits in 2023 . But he has kept himself busy in retirement.

During the 2020 lockdown , Lansbury spent some of his time gardening and noticed a market gap for organic fertilisers. He teamed up with two expert groundsmen to develop a series of products which he now sells to Arsenal , other football clubs and the general public.

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"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.

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"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."

Lansbury has also found another passion in retirement: cutting lawns. The 35-year-old goes by his social media handle The Lawn Lad and posts videos of his work, helping clients with their gardens and treating the grass at football grounds.

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He added: "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."

When Lansbury played for Luton, he commemorated a goal with a lawn-mower celebration that went viral. He said: "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.'"

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