Town CEO Mark Ashton, speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Blues legend Matt Holland for TownTV alongside manager Kieran McKenna, revealed that the club will make announcements about planned training ground developments and the long-term goal of replacing the Cobbold Stand in the coming weeks.
Ashton stated early this season that the training ground would be the club’s next major project, with planning permission for an extension to the gym recently granted but much more significant work to be completed.
“There’ll be infrastructure programmes, we’ve got some work to do on the West Stand, potentially complete the [executive] box level to give us some more space,” the CEO said.
Ashton: Announcements on Training Ground and Cobbold Stand in Next Few Weeks
Friday, 1st Mar 2024 21:19
Town CEO Mark Ashton, speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Blues legend Matt Holland for TownTV along with manager Kieran McKenna, has revealed that the club will make announcements regarding the planned training ground developments and the longer-term aim of replacing the Cobbold Stand in the next few weeks.
Ashton said earlier in the season that the training ground would be the next big project for the club with planning permission for an extension to the gym recently granted but with much more significant work to come.
“There’ll be infrastructure programmes, we’ve got some work to do on the West Stand, potentially complete the [executive] box level to give us some more space,” the CEO said.
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“But I think over the next two or three weeks, you’re going to see some additional announcements coming out of the football club, particularly in relation to the training ground. That is probably the next biggest project that we’ve got.
“We’ve got initial designs now in place. Kieran’s had a quick look at those and we’ll be presenting those to the players probably in the next seven to 10 days. Kieran then gets to get his hands on the design and tweak and turn and play with it.
“And then we’ll start preparing and search for ways to move forward. That will be a massive development programme.
“Timescale? If all goes well, I’d like to be on-site as soon as we finish planning, which I hope to do this summer.
“The three pitches are already operational, which gives us an advantage because we don’t have to wait for them to be built. They will improve this summer and be great again next season.
“But the building is key because we need to give Kieran and the staff a professional environment.
“That will allow us to alter the facilities that we’ve got and enhance the facilities for our academy and enhance our facilities for [manager] Joe [Sheehan] and the women’s team. So it’s a major redevelopment at the training ground.”
Regarding the redevelopment of the more-than-50-years-old Cobbold Stand, he added: “It’s on the agenda. There will be information coming out of the club probably in the next two or three weeks in relation to that. That is not the next project, for sure. Let me just manage expectations on that.
“We are working with architects, we’re working with the local authority on a scale and bulk on what that stand will need to look like and we’re pretty much down the line on that.
“However, that would not be an impending construction project. We have other projects that are considerably ahead of that. But it’s something that’s on our radar, and there’s a lot of work going into it.”
Reflecting on the January transfer window, Ashton stated, “I believe [Financial Fair Play] had an impact across the board.” We were quite focused on what we wanted to achieve with the summer timeframe.
“That changes when George Hirst is hurt, but I believe that nationally throughout all divisions, it was a dry window.
“That’s not because teams don’t have the money, but because they’re up against Financial Fair Play rules, such as P&S [profit and sustainability in the Championship] or SCNP [Salary Cost Management Protocol] in Leagues One and Two, so there wasn’t much movement.
“There wasn’t much movement in the Premier League, so that didn’t trickle down into the Championship.
“It meant that the typical trading markets were not available.
“There were players that you would enquire about that we’d been looking for a while and it wasn’t that you couldn’t do a deal on those players, but because that club couldn’t necessarily get a replacement in, which again affected to food chain, so you couldn’t conclude the deals.
“I think it was a challenge but I think everything that we’ve done since we took over the club has been brave and bold, we’ve tried to be front-footed, we’ve tried to attack everything that we’ve done, whether that’s on the pitch or off the pitch, and I think we ended up in a fairly good place. I think it was another solid window that helped us progress.”
Meanwhile, Ashton says the club’s US owners are delighted with the club’s on-field progress this season.
“Really, really pleased,” he remarked. “We communicate all the time. I’m doing a lot of traveling, going back and forth to the United States.
“They’re fantastic; Ed Schwarz takes the lead in this, and ORG represents Mark Steed and the pension fund [Arizona’s Public Safety Personnel Retirement System].”
“The Three Lions, Brett [Johnson], Berkay [Bakay], and Mark Detmer, are in constant contact, and they will be here for the Sheffield Wednesday game.
“They were the first individuals on the phone right after the game. “Fantastically supportive.”
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