A ceremony has been held at the training ground to mark the commencement of construction on the new training facility.

The 'turf cutting' was undertaken by Chairman, Peter Coates who commented, 'The construction of this facility represents a major step forward for the Football Club and will help secure its future at the highest level of the game, enhancing our ability to attract new professional players and the talent of the future that will be nurtured through the Academy.'

The facility will include 9 changing rooms, gymnasium, hydrotherapy suite, medical facilities, kitchen and refectory, media suite, laundry and offices for the football management and administration.

In addition to the main building, there will be ancillary buildings to support the training ground site such as a grounds man's store and the necessary car parking for the building occupants and visitors.

The ceremony was attended by representatives of the recently appointed building contractor Kier North West, together with other members of the project team from AFL Architects and Arcadis AYH Cost Consultants who have been involved in the scheme since its inception last Autumn.

The event was also witnessed by the national and local media

In tandem with the development of a design for the new building, the Football Club have also produced a master plan for the site.

This plan shows further stages of development of the training ground which includes floodlighting two pitches and the installation of a synthetic pitch, for which planning permission has already been secured.

Longer term it is planned to install a pitch irrigation system for the whole site and an indoor pitch. This will give the Club all the training facilities it needs on one site to underpin the First Team and Academy training requirements.