![Alanmaguirelennoxtown14](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Alanmaguirelennoxtown14.jpg)
Lennoxtown Training Centre is
Celtic F.C.
The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...
's training centre, located at
Lennoxtown
Lennoxtown ( gd, Baile na Leamhnachd, ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire council area and the historic county of Stirlingshire, Scotland at the foot of the Campsie Fells, which are just to the north. The town had a population of 4,094 at the 20 ...
,
East Dunbartonshire
East Dunbartonshire ( sco, Aest Dunbartanshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north of Glasgow and contains many of the affluent areas to the north of the city, including Bea ...
in Scotland. The complex houses the club's
training
Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...
and educational facilities.
Background
Lennoxtown was designed to replace Celtic's former training ground at
Barrowfield
Barrowfield is a neighbourhood of Glasgow, Scotland, close to Celtic Park, home of Celtic F.C., which lies immediately to the east. It is bounded by the A89 road (Gallowgate) to the north and the A74 (London Road) to the south.
History
Being ...
(a short distance east of the club's stadium
Celtic Park
Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...
in the east end of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
). The complex is built on former
NHS
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
land adjacent to the vacated
Lennox Castle Hospital and is located on a site near the
Campsie Fells
The Campsie Fells (also known as the Campsies; Scottish Gaelic: ''Monadh Chamaisidh'') are a range of hills in central Scotland, stretching east to west from Denny Muir to Dumgoyne in Stirlingshire and overlooking Strathkelvin to the south. Th ...
; half of the site has been developed in ''Phase One'' of the project to provide the existing training facilities with the remaining land being left for development in ''Phase Two'' which will provide conference facilities and live-in dormitory areas for young players.
The centre houses Celtic's entire professional footballing operation and will host the home games for
Celtic's ladies team.
For many years the training facilities which Celtic provided at Barrowfield were seen as substandard and would be hidden from potential new signings. This fact was emphasised after their rivals
Rangers opened their
Auchenhowie complex in 2001 and
Hearts opened their
Riccarton Riccarton may refer to:
New Zealand
* Riccarton, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch
** Riccarton (New Zealand electorate), the electorate named after it
** The location of Riccarton Race Course
* a locality on the Taieri Plains in Otago
Scotlan ...
academy with
Heriot-Watt University in 2004.
A number of club officials and players expressed sadness at leaving Barrowfield but saw it as a necessity for the modern game and that it would aid in helping Celtic attract players to the club.
Prior to its opening, Celtic
youth team
In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future i ...
coach
Willie McStay stated ''"after years of shuttling back and forth between Barrowfield, Celtic Park and several other temporary training venues, Lennoxtown will also allow the Youth Academy coaching staff to better utilise their time during the course of a season."''
In 2005, Celtic launched a successful share issue which raised £15m, much of this money would be put towards providing new training facilities.
Celtic coach
Tommy Burns was tasked with undertaking a fact finding mission and travelled across
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
to visit other football clubs' training grounds. Celtic chose sections from Burns's report and this was added to by former Celtic bosses
Martin O'Neill
Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.
Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...
and
Gordon Strachan
Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...
.
In December 2005,
East Dunbartonshire Council
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
's Planning Board approved the outline planning application to develop the training facilities on the site.
The following April, the council granted a detailed permission with the leader of East Dunbartonshire Council, John Morrison, stating ''"I'm sure that the residents of East Dunbartonshire are delighted at the prospect of this ambitious development in their area. The Celtic training facility will potentially contribute significantly to the development of Lennoxtown and will also bring wider employment and social benefits to the area."''.
Official opening
The centre was officially opened on 9 October 2007 by Celtic chairman
Brian Quinn at a ceremony where he was joined by
Chief executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Peter Lawwell
Peter Lawwell (born 27 May 1959) is the former chief executive of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. He retired in June 2021 from his role as CEO. He was announced as successor to current Celtic chairman Ian Bankier on 2nd December 2022 and will ...
, then Celtic manager
Gordon Strachan
Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...
and then Celtic captain
Stephen McManus.
Chairman Brian Quinn added ''"When people come and see the facilities they'll see what I think we are, which is a major European club"''.
At the opening of the centre Peter Lawwell stated that Celtic ''"now have a foundation and infrastructure that should take us forward."'' and that Celtic can ''"now demonstrate a world-class training centre on top of a world-class stadium, for what I believe is a world-class club. It’s fitting for a club of this stature"''.
Facilities
£8 million was spent on the construction. Indoor facilities include an indoor training hall, a fitness centre with gym and fitness suite, physio and medical facilities, sauna and steam room and hydrotherapy pool, Sports science/sports development facility, changing facilities, classroom/education facilities, football administration offices, media facilities, kit room, laundry and Groundsman's compound.
Outdoor facilities include three full-sized UEFA standard natural grass training and match pitches, with undersoil heating to the main pitch, an artificial grass pitch and an additional
goalkeeping
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
training area.
The Lennoxtown complex is just over from
Rangers Training Centre, also in
East Dunbartonshire
East Dunbartonshire ( sco, Aest Dunbartanshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north of Glasgow and contains many of the affluent areas to the north of the city, including Bea ...
(
as the crow flies
__NOTOC__
The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver ...
). Coincidentally, this is almost exactly the same as the distance across the city of Glasgow between the two clubs' main stadia.
Site split plan
In 2019, Celtic announced plans to redevelop their older Barrowfield facilities in Glasgow for use by the academy and
women's team, including an indoor pitch and a matchday venue augmenting the Lennoxtown base which would continue to be used by the first team squad.
Celtic submit new training centre plans including indoor pitch at Barrowfield
Glasgow Times, 20 December 2019
Gallery
Image:Alanmaguirelennoxtown7.jpg, Celtic crest on glazed lobby
Image:Alanmaguirelennoxtown14.jpg, Training centre and astroturf pitch
Image:Alanmaguirelennoxtown13.jpg, Astro-turf pitches
Image:Alanmaguirelennoxtown12.jpg, Training centre during finishing stages of construction
Image:Alanmaguirelennoxtown11.jpg, Training centre and main pitch
File:LennoxtownGround.jpg, Setting beneath Campsie Fell
Image:Alanmaguirelennoxtown8.jpg, Rear of training centre during finishing stages of construction
File:LennoxtownLobby.jpg, Close up of entrance lobby
Image:Alanmaguirelennoxtown4.jpg, Main training pitches
Image:Alanmaguirelennoxtown2.jpg, Side access to training facility
Image:Alanmaguirelennoxtown1.jpg, Side elevation
Image:Lennoxtown training complex from the air.jpg, Aerial view
References
External links
Chairman's address at the opening of the facility
Video showing the facilities at Lennoxtown
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lennoxtown Training Centre
Celtic F.C.
Lennoxtown
Lennoxtown ( gd, Baile na Leamhnachd, ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire council area and the historic county of Stirlingshire, Scotland at the foot of the Campsie Fells, which are just to the north. The town had a population of 4,094 at the 20 ...
Football venues in Scotland
Sports venues in East Dunbartonshire
Lennoxtown
Sports venues completed in 2007
Scottish Women's Premier League venues
2007 establishments in Scotland