Wrexham Poised to Unlock 'Huge Advantage' With Game-Changing Training Ground Transformation

Wrexham are aiming to have their new first-team training building operational early next month, ahead of the upcoming EFL Championship season.

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

Up to this point, Wrexham have only been permitted to use the site for training sessions before heading back to the Racecourse Ground to access changing rooms, the gym, medical services, and dining areas. However, construction is now underway on a purpose-built Training Pavilion that will bring all of those amenities to the training site, greatly cutting down on travel and improving the club's day-to-day operations.

While the Welsh club still harbors long-term plans to develop its own permanent training facility, club officials acknowledge that Colliers Park will likely serve as their base for the next three to five years as the search for a suitable location continues.

Phil Parkinson believes the new Training Pavilion will offer a "huge advantage" to Wrexham's football operations, with the facility expected to be ready when the squad returns from their preseason tour 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."

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Why Wrexham Don't Have Their Own Training Ground

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

The club originally developed Colliers Park in 1997 at a cost of around $1 million. It was widely considered one of the best training facilities outside the Premier League and was even utilized by Barcelona during their trips to England for European fixtures.

Struggling with financial pressures, the Red Dragons sold both their training ground and stadium to Wrexham University in 2011, though they retained a license to continue using the facilities for an annual fee. The club later signed a new 99-year lease on the Racecourse Ground in 2016 before buying the stadium back in June 2022.

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An agreement was reached that allowed the club's Centre of Excellence youth department to return to Colliers Park in 2019, while the first team remained at nearby Nine Acre Field in Maesydre. Since the Hollywood takeover, the Red Dragons have trained at various locations, including Colliers Park, the Racecourse Ground, and Carden Park near Chester — the latter being where Parkinson's squad kicked off their preseason preparations this summer.

Once the Training Pavilion is finished, Wrexham plan to establish Colliers Park as their regular training base while efforts continue behind the scenes to find the right location for a permanent training complex.