Press conference notes as Stoke City's £12m training ground plans take shape

News from Clayton Wood as Stoke City gets ready to travel to Preston North End for the championship

Stoke City’s sports science staff used to conduct pre-match briefings at the stadium; but, this season, they were moved back to the nerve center in Trent Vale, which is open Monday through Friday. Prior to this, the team met in the old media room at Clayton Wood. According to Alex Neil, he wanted the media to observe the atmosphere among his team, so they stayed with Steven Schumacher in a briefing room that was hastily set up for the purpose.

We’re talking about this now because, after a week of significant announcements from the team, there is a little more detail available regarding Stoke’s intentions for a significant upgrade at Clayton Wood. There are plans to build a new £1.5 million fan zone behind the Boothen End, move the away end to the bet365 Stadium, and implement safe standing.

Furthermore, a new two-story facility for the first team will replace the academy and women’s team’s shared space in the existing structure, which will also undergo additional renovations, as part of an investment of £10–£12 million in the training center. Indeed, it is explicitly stated in the planning application that was turned in to the Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council that the main purpose of the construction is to support the club’s Category One academy.

The evolution of football and youth set-ups over the last decade mean that the number of full-time staff has grown exponentially since Clayton Wood was designed in 2009. There are minimum requirements to tick off for things like classrooms, parents’ rooms, a large meeting room and gymnasium. Stoke need 12 changing rooms for the Premier League Elite Player Performance Plan but the maximum available at the moment is eight.

“Over the last few years, the club has had to reconfigure spaces in the existing building, including having to build over double height spaces to provide additional accommodation,” the statement states. “There are no longer any further opportunities to create additional space by these means.”

All of this infrastructure is being put in place for the club’s long-term goals, which include playing in the Premier League. The Coates family is funding the five-year plan in areas where funding is not constrained by the Financial Fair Play regulations of the EFL.

The new two-storey facility, which would be built to the left of the pitch behind the current building, will include new offices for the manager, technical director and recruitment staff, a swimming pool, hydrotherapy and cryotherapy areas, sauna and, yes, a new press room.

It’s something exciting and reassuring bubbling away for the future while Steven Schumacher deals with the very important matters of the here and now.

The here and now: Preston away and 10 big games

Steven Schumacher was giving off positive vibes as Stoke head into these final two months of the season. They are in the relegation zone but it is so close that teams are going to move up and down pretty much if another sneezes.

The next three games are against clubs chasing the play-offs – Preston, Norwich and Hull – while there is a run in April that will involve four games against teams also in the mix and a home derby against West Brom. It must be tempting to look ahead, Angela Smith put to Schumacher.

“It’s taking each one as it comes. It’s probably the easiest way,” he said. “If you get carried away and think we’re not going to get points in certain games and were definitely going to get points in other games, this league proves over and over again that upsets happen and things don’t go as you plan. We’ll just look at the next game, which is Preston, and we have to try to figure out a way to beat them. If we can get points from that it will give us momentum to take into the next game at home.

“It’s going to be a challenge, a third game in a week, they’ve only now had two, but we’re up for the fight and hopefully we’ll do well.”

Ben Pearson serves a one-match ban for picking up two yellow cards at Leeds but Jordan Thompson is back in contention for selection at Preston following suspension.

Luke McNally (thigh) and Enda Stevens (hamstring) returned to full training yesterday but neither, particularly Stevens – who hasn’t played yet for Schumacher – is likely to be quite ready to return to the squad yet, both more likely to come back in for the Norwich game at home the following Saturday.

Junior Tchamadeu remains on the sidelines as he nurses an ankle injury and Ryan Mmaee hopes to return to training next week after a knee problem.

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