Stadium manager Greg Smith and his team of groundstaff have been pleased with the quality of the club’s training facility following a summer of hard work.
The decision was made for the players to return to the Highfields base for 2013.14, rather than travel to the England national team’s home, St George’s Park, in Burton-on-Trent.
Considering the quality of the facilities at St George’s Park, Smith felt that there was a lot of pressure on the groundstaff ahead of the new season.
However, he has been delighted with the response received from the standard of the pitches at Highfields.
He told Magpie Player: “We wanted the training ground to be right, as we know the facilities that they’re used to.
“Myself and Trev [Hutchinson] (head groundsman) have been up there and we know that the standards were very high so we’ve had to step it up this summer.
“We’re really pleased, because it’s looking really well and we’ve had a bit of rain which has helped us, because we don’t have water up here.”
First team manager Chris Kiwomya added: “Even the players have made comments about the quality of the surface so full credit to the grounstaff.
“They’ve worked hard during the summer and it’s paid dividends so a lot of respect is due to them.”
For the full verdict on the training facility, watch the feature on Magpie Player.
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