‘Huge Advantage’—Wrexham Set for Major Training Ground Upgrade

Wrexham hope to have their new first-team training building open early next month, in time for the start of the EFL Championship season.

The Red Dragons are currently based at Colliers Park, a training facility owned by Wrexham University and operated under a long-term lease by the Football Association of Wales as the National Football Development Centre.

Until now, Wrexham have only been able to use the facility for training before returning to the Racecourse Ground to access the locker rooms, gym, medical department and dining facilities. However, work is underway on a purpose-built Training Pavilion that will provide all of those amenities on-site, significantly reducing the need for travel and streamlining the overall operation.

Although the Welsh club still has long-term ambitions to build a permanent training facility of its own, officials recognize that Colliers Park will likely remain the base for the next three to five years while the search for a suitable site continues.

Phil Parkinson believes the addition of the Training Pavilion will provide a “huge advantage” to Wrexham’s soccer operations, with the facility expected to be ready when the squad returns from their preseason schedule early next month.

“What is great for us, people can see the stands coming up and the module at Colliers taking shape as well,” Parkinson told BBC Sport. “As the club’s progressed on the pitch, the training facilities in particular ... it’s been difficult to keep pace.

“Even though Colliers are great with us and the pitches are good, to have our own base there now is going to be a huge advantage because we’re up against teams with state-of-the-art training grounds.

“Even in League One, a lot of teams have got really top-class facilities and we need that to attract players. It’s progress we needed to make and when we come back from America [for preseason], that should be ready to go into.”

Wrexham Preseason Plans: Confirmed Fixtures, Dates, Opponents

Date	Opponent	Venue	Country
July 11	Wisła Kraków	Synerise Arena, Kraków	Poland
July 18	Manchester United	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki	Finland
July 25	Leeds United	Raymond James Stadium, Tampa	United States
July 29	Liverpool	Yankee Stadium, New York	United States
Aug. 2	Sunderland	Subaru Park, Philadelphia	United States

Why Wrexham Don’t Have Their Own Training Ground

Wrexham have been without a permanent training ground of their own for nearly a decade, having lost full-time access to Colliers Park in 2016.

The club originally built Colliers Park in 1997 at a cost of approximately $1 million. It was widely regarded as one of the finest training facilities outside the Premier League and was even used by Barcelona during visits to England for European matches.

Facing financial difficulties, the Red Dragons sold both their training ground and stadium to Wrexham University in 2011, although they retained a license to use the facilities for an annual fee. Wrexham later signed a new 99-year lease on the Racecourse Ground in 2016 before repurchasing the stadium in June 2022.

The club reached an agreement that allowed its Centre of Excellence youth department to return to Colliers Park in 2019, while the first team remained based at nearby Nine Acre Field in Maesydre. Since the Hollywood takeover, the Red Dragons have trained at several locations, including Colliers Park, the Racecourse Ground and Carden Park near Chester. It is at the latter that Parkinson’s squad began preseason training this summer.

Once the Training Pavilion is complete, Wrexham intend to make Colliers Park their regular training base while work continues behind the scenes to identify the ideal site for a permanent training complex.

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