Training ground blow will not derail promotion push

Exeter City boss can’t hide his disappointment at collapse of £2.2 million project

EXETER City manager Matt Taylor says news that building work on the club’s proposed new £2.2 million training ground has been cancelled cannot distract him and his players from their promotion challenge this season.

It was confirmed last week that the chosen tender were pulling out of the contract with building costs increasing sharply, leaving the Grecians looking for a viable solution.

Ground work was due to begin on site this month and with no confirmation on when – or if - the work will now get started, it looks like bad news off the field, at a time things are going so well on it for the club.

“I am sure there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes with regards to come up with a solution,” Taylor said. “Plans were in place regarding training pitches we were using and were going to use from this point going forward because work was meant to have started… but it’s not good news and I can’t butter it up any other way.

“It’s not good for myself as manager, the players or the staff that are here. It’s not good news for the supporters to hear and it’s not good for anyone that works at the football club because it is something which has been in the planning for such a long period of time - and we were working to these dates – so for it to be taken away for whatever reason is a kick in the teeth, and probably more painful areas as well.

“I don’t know what the situation will be, but there are players I have spoken to and signed on contracts with the understanding and expectancy that we are going to have a new training ground in September.

“Realistically, with the timeframes and where we are now and the fact the work hasn’t started, I don’t think that’s achievable. But we need it to happen sooner rather than later.

“Anyone that has spent time at the Cat & Fiddle in recent years will know how we have been getting by with it. Will we be able to get by across another season? Your guess is as good as mine as to whether it can withstand another season.

“Decisions will have to be made. Unfortunately, the building environment, or landscape, so to speak, is in a really poor position financially. Prices are inflated and at their highest point but, if we are going to invest, then the training ground was always something that the club needed to invest in.

“We have seen the rewards of investing in the football pitch at the Park this season and we would have seen the rewards with a new training building for this club and bringing it to a new level of professionalism.

“I’ve spoken about the mentality and physicality of the players at the moment, but nothing breaks the heart of a manager more than when you see them at a low and you don’t feed them before training, you don’t feed them after training and you watch them go home in their kit because we aren’t washing their kit.

“We know what we’ve been at Exeter City but the hope and ideology was that we were going to improve and become as professional as we possibly could be with a new training ground and it was something we were all looking forward to.

“It’s not been a great week in relation to that, but that’s a side story at the moment which we can’t let affect our performances and preparation mobbing forward in terms of games.”

The £2.2 million work was due to be carried out by Enviro Building Solutions Limited (Modular Building Manufacturer) with the structure built off site before being transported to the training base.

It was due to replace the existing building at the training ground, a temporary wooden structure built in the 1970s, which is far beyond its sell by date.

The new building was planned to be a two-tier facility comprising a new and larger gymnasium, proper canteen facilities (no longer shared with the gym), larger changing facilities, proper office accommodation and a theatre/analysis/classroom.

The project was put to a vote by Supporters’ Trust members in October and needed a 50 per-cent plus one majority for approval. Some 97 per-cent of Trust members that voted agreed to the proposal with a further 96 per-cent voting in favour of a £600,000 loan from the Supporters’ Trust towards the cost.