The Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground is the training ground and

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

base of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club. It is located in the

Compton Compton may refer to: Places Canada * Compton (electoral district), a former Quebec federal electoral district * Compton (provincial electoral district), a former Quebec provincial electoral district now part of Mégantic-Compton * Compton, Que ...

area of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

. The modern two-storey building stands approximately one mile to the west of the club's home stadium Molineux, and features five high-quality under-soil heated training pitches, eleven changing rooms, a fully equipped gymnasium, and a

hydrotherapy pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as ...

– one of only a handful of English clubs to own such equipment. The training ground's medical and physiotherapy facilities made it the first British sports club to establish a fully accredited professional sports laboratory, based on AC Milan's

Milanello Milanello Sports Centre ('' it, Centro Sportivo Milanello''), commonly referred to as simply Milanello, is the training facility of Italian football club A.C. Milan. Built in 1963, the centre consists of , including a pinewood and a little lake. I ...

model. The development opened in November 2005 at a cost £4.6 million and is named in honour of the club's Life President and former owner

Sir Jack Hayward Sir Jack Arnold Hayward (14 June 1923 – 13 January 2015) was an English businessman, property developer, philanthropist, and president of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Biography Early life The only son of Charles William ...

. It became the club's first owned training facility since they were forced to sell their training ground in the

Castlecroft Castlecroft is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, located on the edge of the city, WSW of the city centre. It is situated where the Merry Hill, and Tettenhall Wightwick wards meet, and also borders South Staffordshire. History The name ...

area of the city in the late 1980s due to financial difficulties. The plan was initiated by then-manager

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...

in the mid-1990s but construction was not begun for some years. In July 2011, plans were announced for a redevelopment of the Compton Park area where the training ground is currently located that will enable Wolves to build a new indoor pitch and improve facilities to create a 'Category 1' Premier League football academy. The £50 million project involves the football club, the

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mech ...

St Edmund's Catholic Academy St Edmund's Catholic Academy is a Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in the Compton area of Wolverhampton, West Midlands England. The Building Schools for the Future program invested £7.9 million of its ...

, the

Archdiocese of Birmingham The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham is one of the principal Latin-rite Catholic administrative divisions of England and Wales in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. The archdiocese covers an area of , encompassing Staffordshir ...

, and Redrow, the construction company founded by former Wolves owner Steve Morgan.

References

External links

Architects design of training ground redevelopment
{{Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Jack Hayward Sir Jack Arnold Hayward (14 June 1923 – 13 January 2015) was an English businessman, property developer, philanthropist, and president of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Biography Early life The only son of Charles William ...

Wolverhampton 2005 establishments in England Sports venues completed in 2005