Gawthorpe opened its doors sixty years ago

Last updated : 25 July 2015 By Tony Scholes

The story has oft been told how director Bob Lord, alongside manager Alan Brown, were key to the purchase of land at Home Farm, Gawthorpe, and the pair of them, with Lord having recently been elected as chairman, were there to welcome back the players ahead of the 1955/56 season.

The photograph was a traditional one, taken annually, when the chairman visited the players to welcome them on their return, but here we were, ahead of the rest of the country, with a state of the art training facility.

This week, four days short of the anniversary, and while I was inside Ibrox, I received the news that the council had approved the plans for the redevelopment of the site which is now only just starting to catch up a lot of lower clubs.

No longer do we have state of the art facilities down there although new pitches were added last season to add to the one created in 2005 and the better changing, gym facilities etcetera.

The new plans involved the developing of an area on the other side of the river to the existing building which will include more new pitches, of full size and smaller, a facility that will see all the players back under one roof and an indoor all weather area that meets the requirements of EPPP, allowing us to push for a higher category than we have now.

There was opposition from environmental groups, but the council passed the application although it could still be called in by the Secretary of State with a three week time scale. Should that be required, and is successful, the work is expected to start later this year.

It's absolutely vital that this work is carried out. The poor facilities have hampered us at youth level for far too long and even more so now with the introduction of EPPP.

It's a big commitment financially, but no matter what direction the club goes in, this will, undoubtedly, be a fantastic legacy from our second Premier League season. Had we not gone up then it would still have been required to take the club forward but it would have taken a lot longer to raise the necessary finance.

Alan Brown had a vision sixty years ago, to have a training area away from Turf Moor where the players could properly be coached. Brown, very much a modern style of coach, had a massive influence on Brian Clough who, in turn, had a massive influence on Sean Dyche. It seems very appropriate then that Dyche is the man in charge as Brown's dream gets the upgrade that has been needed for so long.

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