Base change will generate success

YEOVIL Town manager Mark Cooper has reiterated the need for his side to begin training at the SGS Wise campus in South Gloucestershire, but has stressed that the community aspect and work the players do around the local area will not be affected.

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Speaking at the Meet the Owners events last week, Cooper said that players need to be training at the highest level in order for the club to be successful and the moving to the SGS from their original base at Alvington was the best and only option they had in the short term.

He said: “If we had a really good facility in Yeovil we would be training in Yeovil, no question at all. Unfortunately, we haven't got that facility.

“We're in a position where we're really struggling, we've reached out to lots of schools, organisations, ‘can we use your facilities’ and we hit a brick wall.

“So the next best thing was we could either train here on 3G that needs relaying, and we picked up numerous injuries on there last year, or we try and get a bespoke training ground that gives us a chance to prepare properly.

“So it’s plain and simple, it’s about us having a facility and at the moment we haven't got that in Yeovil.

“We're not going to lose that community feel and we are going to try and bring the players down and do the visits that we do, the hospitals, the schools, all of that. It’s really important”

Executive chairman Stuart Robins added: “The cost of making those [the top pitches] into a facility whereby it would be good enough for the first team to train is significant.