| Lennoxtown | Celtic Park | About Celtic | Barrowfield |
CELTIC have applied for planning permission to build their new training academy at Lennoxtown.
Chief executive Peter Lawwell revealed the news during the agm at Parkhead today.
In August, Celtic bought almost 50 acres from NHS Greater Glasgow at the site of the old Lennox Castle Hospital to replace their dilapidated Barrowfield training ground.
Now they have applied to start the building process, which they hope to complete in 18 months.
The cost has so far only been described as “multi-million”. NHS Greater Glasgow refuse to say how much they will make from the sale.
The new academy, 12 miles from Celtic Park, will rival Rangers’ £14m Murray Park in Milngavie, which is also in East Dunbartonshire.
Plans include three grass pitches, an artificial pitch, indoor training area, gym, physio, sports science facilities, and a media centre. The club’s day-to-day operations will move from Parkhead.
“We have a preferred option in Lennoxtown,” Lawwell said. “We have applied for planning permission and it has the potential to be a world-class training facility and academy.
“We are hoping to invest in that and we are also looking at the scouting side of things. The whole structure is changing and we want to have our tentacles in Europe. We hope that will be established over the next couple of months.
“If things go well and according to plan then hopefully we could be in the academy for pre-season 2007/08. And we are highly confident of getting the finances to take the project forward.”
Lawwell told the agm that, while Celtic’s loss in revenue by not making the Champions League was significant, he is optimistic the current restructuring will have long term benefits for the club.
The addition of Chinese defender Du Wei and Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura brings commercial potential in Asia that the club are keen to exploit.
Publication date 07/10/05
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/sport/6021526.html