Stoke City given green light for £12m training ground redevelopment
Entrance to the new men's first-team building
Written by Training Ground Guru — June 5, 2024
Stoke City have announced they will start work on a £10m to £12m redevelopment of their Clayton Wood training ground in September, with the project scheduled to be completed within a year.
The new “state-of-the-art” building will create elite facilities for the men’s first-team squad. In turn, the existing pavilion will be renovated and used exclusively by the club’s Category One Academy and women’s team.
The new first-team building will increase the scale and quality of the performance, recovery, rehabilitation, gym, 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 their bet365 Stadium in 1997. It will take the total investment in the club’s training base since its acquisition above £25m.
Vice-Chairman Richard Smith said: “This development is massive for Stoke City, both in terms of scope and importance. Once complete, it will elevate our first-team facilities to among the best in the Championship and make them fit for Premier League football.
Pavilion on the left will house Academy and Women's teams; new building on the right will house the men's first team
“Also, no sooner has the new facility at Clayton Wood been opened, a refurbishment of the current building will begin, making it a suitably elite home for our ambitious women’s team and Academy, meaning the benefit will be felt across our club.”
Planning permission has already been granted by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, meaning work on the development can begin in September following the appointment of a building contractor.
“The predicted figure for the five-year development programme we announced in 2022 has increased from £20m to £30m since the projects started to take shape,” Smith added.
“This significant training ground investment is to support the on-field ambitions that go hand-in-hand with that. We think of the plans announced for 2022-2026 as an instalment in a rolling programme of improvements which we intend to continue.
“I hope this demonstrates our absolute ongoing commitment to Stoke City and our determination to bring the sustained success and achievement both on and off the field that our fans so richly deserve.”
Last September, Stoke unveiled plans for a new two-storey building at their training ground to include a gym, sauna and hydrotherapy room.
The Potters had undertaken a £5m redevelopment of their Clayton Wood site at the start of 2010/11, but it is now shared by the men's first team, Academy and women’s sides.
The new building, which will just be for the men’s first team, will be on a section of grass currently used for warm-ups. The redeveloped pavilion, to be used by the Academy and Women’s teams, will incorporate a new parents’ lounge. Under Youth Development Rules, every club Academy must have a guest lounge that can accommodate at least 50 people.
In February 2023, Stoke announced a five-year investment programme in their training ground and bet365 Stadium. This was initially expected to cost £20m, but is now set to exceed £25m.
