Toshack’s ‘envy’ at new Swans training facilities
SWANSEA City great John Toshack has lauded the club’s new training facilities after helping officially open their £10.5m base at Fairwood.
Work has been completed on a new extension of the training ground, which includes an altitude chamber, a hydrotherapy room and a video analysis presentation room.
Investment is set to continue with the completion of a designated media centre and new groundstaff machinery store and office.
Toshack, 68, helped the club climb from the bottom tier of English football to the First Division during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
And he admitted the set-up he found on this visit to his former club was in stark contrast to those he encountered when he was first handed the reins at the old Vetch Field.
“I feel a little bit envious,” said the former Real Madrid manager. “The difference over the 40 years since I was at Swansea City is incredible.
“We used to go and check if the tide was out across the road before we decided where to train, then it would be down Ashleigh Road and waiting for the park keeper to go in for his lunch so we could get an hour in there. Now, to see the facilities here is absolutely fantastic, it really is. The changes over that period have been quite something.
“If staff and players have got facilities and conditions like this to work in, then it becomes a lot easier to achieve success.”
Several prominent members of the club hierarchy were in attendance at the formal opening, including chairman Huw Jenkins, majority shareholders Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan, vice-chairman Leigh Dineen, as were staff from Swansea University.
The university collaborated with the Swans on the development of the facility at Fairwood, with vice-chancellor Richard B. Davies and student sport officer Robyn Lock among the speakers.
“To witness the vision for Fairwood come to fruition should fill everybody involved with the club and the university with a huge sense of pride and fulfilment,” said Levien and Kaplan.