Ashton: We're Going to Rejig Some of the Training Ground in the Summer Thursday, 31st Mar 2022 14:27 Blues CEO Mark Ashton has been talking about the club’s plans for Playford Road, the debate regarding the locations of the academy and Community Trust, and the land that former owner Marcus Evans still owns. Ashton has previously talked about the building work which is set to take place at Portman Road this summer, while a new state-of-the-art pitch will be installed at the end of 2022/23. Speaking in a podcast with TWTD and Blue Monday, which can be watched in full below, Ashton was asked what plans there are for Playford Road as presumably the pitches there will similarly need updating. In addition, the main building at the training ground was initially meant for the academy but over the years the first-team has taken over more space, while there are also a number of portacabins. “Anyone who’s seen [manager] Kieran [McKenna] train, it’s incredible,” Ashton said. “He works on three full pitches every single day, the drones are up, the technology’s out, he wants more technology in next season. “The standard and the sizes of the pitches are key. He’s given the ground staff a real headache since he’s come in, I’ll tell you that. “We’re going to probably rejig some of the training ground in the summer and that will start with some of the pitches, three of the pitches will be upgraded, they’ll probably be the best they’ve ever been at Playford Road. “We’ll invest in irrigation, the ability to water and feed the pitches in a more modern way, rather than dragging old-fashioned hosepipes onto pitches etc. “Our intent will be to give Kieran three really good pitches for pre-season and we’re already talking through potential plans to add buildings, change buildings because, and in fairness it’s not just Kieran, whether it was Paul Cook or managers previous to Paul Cook that I’ve spoken to, they’ve all said the same thing, ‘Mark, the training ground just doesn’t work’. “There’s too many people on site, there’s no flow, there’s no planning to it because we’ve got the men’s, academy, development and women’s teams, and it’s not been designed for that. “That’s not a long-term project, that’s a short to medium. With the pitches, we’re getting ready to get the work under way almost now, now, now. You’ll see some changes up there. “This is where Kieran’s really good. He fully understands he’s not at Manchester United right now, he’s not at Tottenham, who have absolutely world class facilities. We’ve got to make the best of what we’ve got. “But actually we’ve got an opportunity to make some substantial investments and some substantial changes. He’s very clear and it’s not ridiculous things that he’s asking for, by the way, he just wants elite, high performance facilities and we’ve got to work towards that pretty quickly.” Playford Road is not the ideal place for the academy given its relative inaccessibility from the A12 and A14 and also as it doesn’t make the most of the catchment area for academy recruitment. Ashton says a move to the Colchester side of town is something which has been discussed, although feels the older players need to be close to the senior squad, while the younger age groups are more aligned with the Community Trust. “It’s that balance between academy and community at the younger ages regarding recruitment,” he said. “We’ve now built a robust board of trustees for the Community Trust and one of those things that we will be looking at are community facilities and where our Community Trust is based because a lot of the time the entry level for the academy is via the Community Trust. “There’s a balance there between where the top end of the academy goes, and I think the top end of the academy is going to need to be in the vicinity of the first team because that link’s got to be really clean and defined. “But the younger age groups, I think, whilst it’s not imminent, I think your thought process on the location, whether that’s community, academy or a mix of the two and where that’s placed and where that sits location-wise, is a really good debate. “It’s something we’ve spoken about several times and I can see that being something that we’re going to discuss internally more.” A year ago, just prior to the takeover, the Community Trust announced plans for a Community Hub at Portman Road, however, Ashton says they are no longer on the table. “No, that plan’s totally shelved,” he said. “I had a really good meeting with the borough and the county council on a wide-range of things and we want to work in partnership with key stakeholders. “I think we need to look at all the land around the stadium and how that works for all of its stakeholders. “We’ve just acquired a substantial piece behind the [Sir Alf Ramsey] Stand. We needed to do that. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we didn’t do that, we’d never be able to acquire it. “And while we haven’t got definite plans for it now, we will look at that with the owners, we will look at that with the local authority and the key stakeholders to try and work in partnership to make sure that we have a Portman Road that’s fit for purpose moving forward. “I think the Community Trust will have a big role to play in that, by the way. What we’re going to do is we’re going to start again with the plans and look again at what we think will future-proof us.” As part of the deal which saw Gamechanger 20 Ltd take ownership of the club a year ago next Thursday Marcus Evans kept part of the Playford Road land. “There is a very small piece of that land that we didn’t acquire, a very small piece,” Ashton continued. “That belongs with Marcus, it doesn’t hinder us in any way, shape or form. It’s just not an issue to us. “It was part of the ongoing negotiations before I arrived but it does not cause us the slightest bit of a problem.” It’s understood that planning permission for housing would likely to be forthcoming for the land but Ashton says he’s not aware of Evans’s plans: “No, it’s a very, very small plot.” In addition to the land, Evans retained a five per cent stake in Gamechanger after the takeover, however, chairman Mike O’Leary said in November it was down to around three percent. Quizzed on why that’s the case, Ashton said: “Let’s be really clear, we’re investing serious money into the football club. The football club was a loss-making entity when we bought it, it’s still a loss-making entity. We’ll lose more money this season because we’ve put more money in. “What we have throughout the season are planned what we call cash calls and regarding the cash calls, the owners are aware of what the cash requirement is for the next year or the next two years. “When they put the money in, if you don’t put your money in, your percentage is diluted, which is commonplace in UK business and world business. “It flexes on when we put the cash call together who contributes to that cash call, they will slightly vary their percentages. If you don’t follow your cash, if you don’t make the cash calls, you get diluted. “Marcus has no role in the football club, not at all. I haven’t had any communication with him since we started, I think Mike probably has, Mike stays in touch with him. My focus is on running the business.”
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