Preston North End's move to Euxton is a trip down memory lane for Trevor Hemmings
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The three outdoor pitches are billard table-smooth and one of them has under-soil heating.
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Hide AdInside, the main dressing room is palatial, the gym stacked with new weights equipment, the spinning room boasting a couple of rows of bikes.
Once the players have trained and had their lunch in a spacious canteen, there’s a full size snooker table and a pool table to keep them on site for longer.
While there are all those modern touches, the Euxton site represents a step back in time for North End owner Trevor Hemmings.
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Hide AdThe training ground is where the Royal Ordnance Factory site previously stood.
Hemmings’ father used to work there, hence this is familiar ground to him.
“When we tried to buy this site from Bolton a few years ago, I walked round it with Mr Hemmings,” said Peter Ridsdale.
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Hide Ad“When we did manage to buy it a few weeks ago, he told me he remembered every room and what was in it.
“He knows it so well from when his father worked in the munitions factory, where the training ground is used to their sports and social club.
“Mr Hemmings would go there with his father.
“When we got the deal done with Wigan to buy it, he had ideas about what we should do with every room.
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Hide Ad“He asked to be kept up to date with the work we have done and he is over the moon with it, he’s very proud of what we have achieved.”
PNE got the keys for Euxton early last month and have done a total refit.
Every room, every wall had been painted, the clubs’s crest is displayed at several points around the building.
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Hide AdThe circular dressing room has a seat, locker and name plate for every player.
To aid recovery after games and training, there are hot and cold whirlpool baths, a cyro chamber where the temperature plunges to help muscles recover.
Having spent £1.6m to buy Euxton, the refit has taken the spending well beyond £2m.
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Hide AdRidsdale, who advises Hemmings, said: “We have gone from one end of the site to the other, there isn’t a room which hasn’t been touched.
“It was opportunistic that we bought this and we would value it at around £10m.”
North End's quest to find a new training ground has gone down a long and winding path.
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Hide AdThey tried to buy Exuton when it was owned by Bolton Wanderers, only for Wigan to out-bid them in 2016.
Attention then shifted to a site on the old Ingol Golf Club, land owned by Hemmings.
Planning permission was eventually obtained together with a housing development but work never started on the training ground.
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Hide AdTo cover the anticipated delay in developing Ingol, North End planned to upgrade Springfields which has been their base since the mid 1990s.
However, Wigan falling into administration saw the opportunity come up to bid for Euxton again.
Ridsdale said: "Three times we have tried to do something with regards the training ground in my time here.
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Hide Ad"We tried to buy Euxton, then we had Ingol and then we planned to upgrade Springfields.
"We've said we wanted to deliver a Premier League quality training facility for our squad.
"When players sign for us we show them Deepdale but the training ground is where they do their work Monday to Friday.
"Springfields was looking tired and we needed to provide first-class facilities.
"After buying Euxton we have always invested quite significantly in upgrading it and making it right for us."