Notts tie up training ground deal

Notts County have today signed a historic 15-year lease to allow them to use an area of land in Beeston, formerly used by Plessey FC, as their permanent training base. The club have never previously owned their own training ground and throughout their long history Notts have moved around Nottingham wherever land was available, but today chairman John Armstrong-Holmes has ensured that this instability will no longer be affecting the club.

Unfortunately the land is currently quite run down, as pictures recently posted on the NCM messageboard show, and therefore it will take a couple of months for the club to get it up to scratch, so pre-season training will have to take place elsewhere. However Armstrong-Holmes hopes to have it up and running by September, with the facilities being exclusively for use by Notts County FC. The land is big enough to accommodate three football pitches, and will also be used as a base by County's youth team, who will play their Saturday morning league matches there.

Chairman John Armstrong-Holmes told nottscountyfc.co.uk:-

"Many people may not appreciate the full significance of this deal but believe me, it represents a massive step forward for this football club.

For as long as anyone can remember, training facilities have been an issue with us. Not having our own base has been a problem that has plagued a succession of managers and Ian McParland has been extremely keen to address that.

"This deal means he will no longer have to hunt around for somewhere suitable for the players to work on miserable mid-winter mornings."