Celtic debuts new training facility

With much fanfare and hype, Scottish Celtic opened a GBP 8 million training centre in Lennoxtown.

After having training subpar Barrowfield, the club now has one of the top facilities in the world. It boasts natural grass and artificial pitches, an indoor training hall, a modern fitness centre, and a hydrotherapy pool.

Three pitches are natural grass – set to UEFA standards – and one is artificial.

Celtic will move almost its entire operation to the new premises.

Celtic had one of the worst training sites in the world, and things seemed worse when rival Rangers opened the Murray Park complex in 2001. Top competitors Hibs and Hearts have completed or are close to completing new complexes.

Celtic chairman Brian Quinn did not knock Barrowfield, which also gave the club a close link to its fans, who used to watch the players come from the site to Celtic Park.

"Barrowfield was not an embarrassment but it was below the standard and level we thought we should have, otherwise we wouldn't be here," Quinn said. "The main problem was the difficult weather, the cold and ice. On some occasions it would be unusable and it used to irritate managers when that was the case. Now we have undersoil heating and an artificial pitch so it will be used the whole year round."

The new site should also help the club concentrate on football issues, and not worry about pitch problems.

"I loved training at Barrowfield, the surface was good but when I was there I got involved in business and football," manager Gordon Strachan said. "I can switch my phone off here and just deal with football and so can the players.

"We are proud of this, it is fantastic. I'm sure it will help (attract players)."

Quinn said that, right now, there are no plans for stadium changes or expansion.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.