- Trafford Training Centre
The Trafford Training Centre, commonly referred to, simply, as the Carrington training ground, is the
training ground and Academy base of English football club, Manchester United. Located in the village ofCarrington, Greater Manchester . The main building was officially opened on26 July 2000 , six months after the first team's first training session at the complex, [cite book |last=White |first=John D. T. |title=The Official Manchester United Almanac |edition=1st edition |date=2008-05-29 |publisher=Orion Books |location=London |isbn=978-0-7528-9192-7 |pages=p.9 |chapter=January ] while the Academy building was opened in 2002. The Academy building is home to Manchester United's youth teams, from Under-9s to Under-16s, while the main building is home to the Reserve and first team squads. The centre replaced the club's old training ground, The Cliff.The centre boasts fourteen football pitches of varying sizes, while inside the complex there are training and rehabilitation areas, physiotherapy and massage rooms and remedial and hydrotherapy pools. There are also squash/basketball courts, sauna, steam and weight rooms, a restaurant for staff and players as well as conference rooms, offices and classrooms. It even has a TV studio to interview players and staff for MUTV. The media have dubbed the centre "Fortress Carrington", due to the convert|2.4|km|mi|1 of fencing and 30,000 trees surrounding it, in order to prevent members of the media and opposition spies from viewing team tactics for upcoming matches.
The centre's grounds cover a total area of convert|108|acre|km2, although only 71 of which are used by the club. The remaining land is rented to a local farmer, and also includes a small nature reserve, which is maintained by the club and the
Cheshire Wildlife Trust .References
*cite journal |year=2005 |month=February |title=Building the Foundations |journal=United - The Official Magazine of Manchester United |issue=150 |pages=pp62–65 |publisher=Future Publishing |location=Manchester
External links
* [http://www.manutdzone.com/atoz/c.html#carrington Carrington Training Centre] at ManUtdZone.com
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