ALL age groups at Burton Albion Academy will train at St George’s Park next season.
Academy Manager Dan Robinson sees this as an important step in the Academy’s development and is delighted that more than 120 registered players will get the chance to use the facilities at St George’s Park.
He said: “The Under 18s will train and play all their games there next seasons. The 9s to 16s will train most of the time at St George’s Park.
“If we want to develop Championship level footballers then we have to have the facilities to support that development.
“As well as having the right surfaces to work on for the players, it will help us with our recruitment. We are surrounded by some big clubs and in order to compete we have to have some points of difference. Hopefully when they come and see where we are training it will be a big draw.
“This time last season the Under 18s were training at Marston’s, next year it will be all at St George’s.
“On Wednesday nights we will be training our 9s-16s in the indoor 3G at St George’s Park – that is an unbelievable facility. You couldn’t get that kind of opportunity at most clubs.
“We also have a manager here in Nigel Clough and a football infrastructure where the opportunities are there for young players. If you are good enough and work hard at this is a club you will get opportunities in the first team.”
Becky Bullock, Senior Accounts Manager at St George’s Park, said: “We enjoy a great working relationship with Burton Albion and are pleased that we can now extend that association to the club’s younger age groups.
“As well as a world-class venue for elite athletes and the home of England teams, we also see St George’s Park as being a vital part of the local community so it’s a natural fit for Burton to be able to use our facilities for their training base.”
Pictured (left to right) are: Academy Manager Dan Robinson, SGP Senior Accounts Manager Becky Bullock, Academy graduate Joe Sbarra and Academy Lead Professional Development Phase Coach Sam Rose.