Training facilities

[Bigdoggsteel]

Does anyone have aerial photos of the first team training center? How far is it from Ewood? Do the youngsters train nearby or in the same place? I see Liverpool are spending £50 million redeveloping theirs to have them training  together.  

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/11503019/jurgen-klopp-delighted-by-big-statement-as-liverpool-begin-redevelopment-of-training-facilities  

They are selling Melwood for housing, so I am sure that will raise a fair whack of the overall outlay. 

When I see pics of the Rovers set up, it looks really good. Where are we at though in comparison to other Championship clubs? I have heard and seen it written many times that we have a "Premier league quality" training center. 

Edited September 20, 2018 by Bigdoggsteel

[Neal]

Brockhall is miles away from Ewood in a rather more affluent area near Clitheroe. Depending on traffic it would take you around 30 mins or more to get from Ewood to Brockhall. Youth teams and first team I think all train there still. I had trials when I was younger and it was impressive back then but hard to remember exactly how it looked. 

[JHRover]

Brockhall is probably 20-30 minute drive from Ewood, on the other side of Blackburn. Not an easy place to find unless you have directions or are familiar with the area as it isn't signposted well from the nearby A59.

Rovers own 2 sites in Brockhall village. The older site is at 'the bottom' e.g. you go through the village gates through the housing and down a hill. This is today the 'academy' where the juniors and scholars are based and Rovers even own or used to own a few houses down there for the younger lads to live in. This site is actually the largest in area but the building is smaller. The 1st team used this facility up until Mark Hughes was manager when he decided to switch them.

The newer site is at the 'top' and can be seen when driving into the village from the main road. It is less well hidden and whilst this was originally designed as the academy is now the senior training centre. This is where the first team are based with the U23s and usually is where the press conferences take place and players new to the club have their photos taken. The building here is bigger and most importantly features an indoor pitch and things like a swimming pool and canteen. Quite an impressive facility I would think by most standards even now at 20 years old. However many clubs have caught up over the last 10-20 years as really we've stood still in terms of investment into our facilities whilst other clubs have spent millions developing new purpose built facilities. The likes of Brighton, Southampton, Wolves etc. have by many accounts superb facilities too. It is interesting though that the likes of Preston, Burnley and Wigan are still talking about spending money on new facilities and lag way behind us in standard.

You can see the two sites on google maps if you click on satellite view and search Brockhall Village. The senior centre is to the south of the village where the large white building is, the academy is to the north of the village where the pitches are roughly in a hexagonal layout.

One thing I've always been amazed by is how hidden the senior training centre is from afar. The building is a huge white metal thing that should be visible for miles around in the middle of the Ribble Valley yet whenever I go somewhere that way like Hurst Green or Salesbury you can't see it. Must have been part of the planning to keep it hidden away.

I suspect the club would like to combine the two sites into one but I honestly can't see how this would be feasible on either of the current sites. Neither is big enough for everything that we need with a Category A academy. We would probably have to move elsewhere onto a new purpose built all in one site for that to happen, though I could see the benefits in terms of managing less sites.

 

Edited September 20, 2018 by JHRover

[tomphil]

It used to be a big complex with many pitches i'm not sure if that is still the case. The youth and senior centres were just a few mins walk apart and i'm almost certain Hughes swapped them around at one point ?

[perthblue02]

56 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Does anyone have aerial photos of the first team training center?  

https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Blackburn+Rovers+Senior+Training+Centre/@53.8247018,-2.4606358,1110m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x487b9db5491ef05b:0x7242bc3c6dfc6525!8m2!3d53.821538!4d-2.4536985

Edited September 20, 2018 by perthblue02