RUFC - Hope For Training Ground Go-Ahead

Rotherham United have got the blueprints of the proposed training complex sorted and will get them to the Borough Council as soon as possible.

The complex will cost around £2.5m and, as well as having four pitches, the stadium will comprise of a training dome, viewing gallery, physiotherapy room, changing facilities and catering facilities and it will be a base for, not only the Millers' first team, but for the Centre of Excellence and also open for community use. It is hoped the stadium will be up to the right standard to help the club evenutally invest funds to get Academy status.

'The first drawings of the training ground are going to be put to the planning department of the Borough Council,' Chairman, Tony Stewart, told The Advertiser. 'Hopefully we can then get the go-ahead as soon as possible. It meets all the training needs of the modern day football club and we are very excited about it. It will be the envy of most clubs in the lower divisions and some in the Championship too. It will be a boost not only for the football club but also for the local community and schools as well. The plan is to invest in and Academy so that children from across South Yorkshire get the chance to play for Rotherham United.'

At present the Millers are using the training facilities at Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium and Mr Stewart is hoping to get this new training ground up and running in eighteen months to two years time and is working through ways of financing the scheme saying the aim is to start construction in September or October.

And where is this state-of-the-art complex to be? It's thought that Kimberworth, Rawmarsh and Wingfield have all been looked into - with my money being on Wingfield.

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