Cheltenham Town FC

The 22-acre facility, which was for many years the Eagle Star Sports & Social Club before becoming the Seasons conference centre, has been the club's training base since 2002.

 

Over time the club has expanded its activities to take responsibility for the whole site following the closure of Seasons in 2013, although up until now this has been on the basis of a lease from the Zurich financial services company.

 

Ownership of the site will not only secure the club a training base for years to come but will also provide the opportunity to upgrade the facility as club chairman David Bloxham explained.

 

"On behalf of the Board I have to say how pleased we are to have acquired the training ground for the football club," said David.

 

"It has been a long process to reach this point - over a year since we began discussions with Zurich - but it is a major step forward for the club.

 

"Much of the training ground is designated as green space in the latest plan for the area so cannot be built upon, although there is an opportunity to re-develop the existing buildings and car park area.

 

"Over time we would like to upgrade the facility and will be investigating ways in which we can achieve this as part of our medium to long-term strategy. The most important thing is that we now own and have full control over the training base for our first team and academy teams, which is something we could have only dreamed of a few short years ago."

 

Cheltenham Town became a full-time professional club upon promotion to the Football League in 1999 and for the first three seasons of their EFL existence the team trained at the University of Gloucestershire's Folly Ground and Hardwick Campus in Swindon Road.

 

When the Swindon Village site became available in 2002 the first team moved in with the academy shortly afterwards but the arrangement was restricted to only the pitches, changing rooms and a couple of cramped offices that had to be shared by all the coaching staff.

Nine years ago the club signed a lease to expand into the whole site, using the main building for meeting rooms, catering and two gymnasiums with offices for the growing staff roster but there was a continuing reluctance to invest in upgrades due to the short term nature of the leases.

"Cheltenham Town Football Club has never really been a property owner before," explained director and club historian Paul Godfrey.

"The Completely Suzuki Stadium is owned by Cheltenham Borough Council but we have a 99 year lease with over 80 years left to run.

"Many years ago the club owned a house in Prestbury Road that was occupied by the first team manager but that was sold to raise funds back in the 1960s so we have been tenants in every property we have occupied since then.

"The opportunity to own the training ground was far too good to turn down and after a year of hard work to reach this point it's a proud day for the club."

The training ground comprises two full size match pitches plus a first team training pitch and goalkeeping training area. There are also four smaller pitches for the younger age group teams in the academy with over 250 players from Under-9s up to the first team using the facility throughout the season.

"We are fortunate that the training ground is big enough to house the first team and academy under one roof because even some of the bigger clubs in the country don't have that luxury," explained Paul.

"It has enabled us to integrate the first team and academy closely and that has definitely paid dividends as we have had some success at developing our own players in recent years.

"Having that security of owning the training ground will enable us to continue that process with the confidence to invest further in the facility, safe in the knowledge that we are there for the long term future."