Work commences on Stoke City’s major training ground development
Work on a major £12m development at Stoke City’s Clayton Wood training ground has commenced.
The first phase, which is a new pavilion for the first team, is scheduled for completion in December 2025.
Representatives of Stoke City and the selected contractor for the project, Speller Metcalfe, have broken ground on the development, which will create a new state of the art building with elite facilities for the men’s first team squad.
The second phase of the development will follow and will be a refurbishment of the existing pavilion building which will exclusively serve the Club’s Category One Academy and women’s team.
The new building will increase the scale and quality of the performance, recovery, rehabilitation, gymnasium, nutrition and sports science facilities available to Potters’ players.
The work will represent Stoke City’s biggest financial outlay on a single project since the building of the bet365 Stadium in 1997.
“I love the Club and just want us to be successful,” said Stoke City Chair John Coates. “One of the key roles I can play in that is investing in facilities to help us build towards that success.
“Jon Walters and Narcís Pèlach are beginning the process of enhancing the culture within our Club.
“Add that to high-quality facilities like this one and the fantastic support we get from our fans, and that can be a recipe for success.
“We want to be more successful than we’ve ever been in the past. We realise that’s a very long-term aim with a lot of building blocks along the way to achieving that.
“This project is one of those building blocks starting to take shape, one that we believe will help create an elite sporting environment, will help us attract the right players at first team and Academy level and will give our coaches the best environment in which to develop players and ultimately make us successful.”
It will take the total investment in the Club’s training base since its acquisition above the £25m mark.
Potters’ Vice-Chairman Richard Smith added: “There has been some preparatory work during the past few weeks to get the site established, but we will start work with a vengeance on Monday and we hope to be moving the first team and supporting staff into the facility before Christmas 2025.
“When it’s finished and we see people walk into it and get the wow factor for the first time, it will be a great feeling.”
Rob Lashford, Director at Speller Metcalfe said: “We’re delighted that work has now commenced on site on the new building at Stoke City Football Club’s training ground.
“This is a major development for the Club and we look forward to delivering a state-of-the-art facility that supports the players and the team.”