Here's where the change from mankover 4 million gone ( training pitches)

Plymouth Argyle FC can confirm that an agreement in principle has been reached to acquire land from the current owners of The Parkway Sports Club to develop and build a brand-new training facility for our players.

For some time, the club has been seeking a suitable area of land within the city to enhance our infrastructure, and earlier this year we were approached by the directors of the facility with a view to selling the land to us.

We have a very clear, long-term strategic vision to become a sustainable Championship football club. To achieve this objective, we need to ensure that all our people have the very best facilities available to them - both to train our existing players and to attract the quality of new players we desire.

While the project is very much in its infancy, the principle of rejuvenating this piece of land to provide high quality facilities for our players is an exciting development for everyone involved at Plymouth Argyle.

Whilst there will be no immediate change for any of the site’s users, it is anticipated that at the end of the 2022/23 season the clubs and groups that currently use The Parkway Sports Club, which is based in Ernesettle, will need to relocate in preparation for works to begin.

As a club in the heart of our community, we are keen to support anyone affected during this transition, and, where we can, support groups in finding the alternative facilities that they require.

Argyle Chief Executive, Andrew Parkinson said: “Finding a site within Plymouth has been a difficult challenge for the club, so we were delighted when we were approached by the current owners of the land earlier this year.

“Realising our long-term vision for Argyle is about building the foundations for future success. I am hugely excited by this development.”

Argyle Director of Football Neil Dewsnip said: “Having the best training facilities for our players is vital if we want to become the best Plymouth Argyle we can be.

“We have made huge improvements across the club - in a number of areas - over the past couple of years, and a training facility to match our ambition is the next step to take.

“We have invested in increased coaching across all ages, including the first team, and now we are putting plans in place to support this with physical infrastructure. It is a tremendously encouraging development.”

The deal is subject to being granted satisfactory planning permission, which will begin in due course

Here we go !

Sounds positive to me all part of this "We have a very clear, long-term strategic vision to become a sustainable Championship football club."
As a lifelong fan I expect nothing less.

akagreengull wrote:

Sounds positive to me all part of this "We have a very clear, long-term strategic vision to become a sustainable Championship football club."
As a lifelong fan I expect nothing less.

Absolutely. To be a top club, we need top facilities which will help attract the better players.

PlymptonPilgrim wrote:

akagreengull wrote:

Sounds positive to me all part of this "We have a very clear, long-term strategic vision to become a sustainable Championship football club."
As a lifelong fan I expect nothing less.

Absolutely. To be a top club, we need top facilities which will help attract the better players.

exactly thius is a good thing and the benefits will be untold in years to come.

I do wonder what the club will do with Harper's Park after they moved out as a part from removing the fences and giving the land back to central park there is alot that can be done with it beyond youth/amateur football matches.

Angry wrote:

PlymptonPilgrim wrote:

akagreengull wrote:

Sounds positive to me all part of this "We have a very clear, long-term strategic vision to become a sustainable Championship football club."
As a lifelong fan I expect nothing less.

Absolutely. To be a top club, we need top facilities which will help attract the better players.

exactly thius is a good thing and the benefits will be untold in years to come.

I do wonder what the club will do with Harper's Park after they moved out as a part from removing the fences and giving the land back to central park there is alot that can be done with it beyond youth/amateur football matches.

Not very big, only two full size pitches

Tgwu wrote:

Angry wrote:

PlymptonPilgrim wrote:

akagreengull wrote:

Sounds positive to me all part of this "We have a very clear, long-term strategic vision to become a sustainable Championship football club."
As a lifelong fan I expect nothing less.

Absolutely. To be a top club, we need top facilities which will help attract the better players.

exactly thius is a good thing and the benefits will be untold in years to come.

I do wonder what the club will do with Harper's Park after they moved out as a part from removing the fences and giving the land back to central park there is alot that can be done with it beyond youth/amateur football matches.

Not very big, only two full size pitches

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and two little ones too dont forget them

How many pitches do we need?

Angry wrote:

PlymptonPilgrim wrote:

akagreengull wrote:

Sounds positive to me all part of this "We have a very clear, long-term strategic vision to become a sustainable Championship football club."
As a lifelong fan I expect nothing less.

Absolutely. To be a top club, we need top facilities which will help attract the better players.

exactly thius is a good thing and the benefits will be untold in years to come.

I do wonder what the club will do with Harper's Park after they moved out as a part from removing the fences and giving the land back to central park there is alot that can be done with it beyond youth/amateur football matches.

Some sort of community/charity bollocks no doubt ... grow your own food bank, Caramo Camaras school of excellence, womens football come gender reassignment hub blah de blah.

The site doesn’t appear to be a whole lot bigger than their current Harpers training area. I wonder if they’ll continue to use Harper’s in addition to the new site?

Earwegoagain wrote:

How many pitches do we need?

Manadon sports hub

A Football Association-standard third generation (3G) artificial playing pitch, with high specification floodlights and security fencing

Adult grass football pitches ?

Harper Park

2 Adult grass football pitches

PLYMOUTH CIVIL SERVICE (old football pitches)

2 Adult grass football pitches

The Parkway Sports Club

2 Adult grass football pitches

+ two little ones too dont forget them

It’s all about a land deal and upping the net worth of the club for sigh the American investment company guy & friends

Tgwu wrote:

Earwegoagain wrote:

How many pitches do we need?

Manadon sports hub

A Football Association-standard third generation (3G) artificial playing pitch, with high specification floodlights and security fencing

Adult grass football pitches ?

Harper Park

2 Adult grass football pitches

PLYMOUTH CIVIL SERVICE (old football pitches)

2 Adult grass football pitches

The Parkway Sports Club

2 Adult grass football pitches

+ two little ones too dont forget them

those two little pitches make all the difference

but in truth the club isn't the size of man utd and doesnt run other teams ie a reserve team so 2 pitches hopefully one will be all weather and 2 little ones  is about right no point having several if we wont ever use them.
What we don't have at Harpers Park barr the two pitches is all the mod cons professional football clubs especially ones with championship ambitions and aiming for that have on site to use and instead have them placed in portakabins around the stadium. Thats not a good look nor appealing to players and indeed managers who want nothing but the best that we want to bring here.
At least at the new place we can have everything we need and more there. Even if we don't install an all weather pitch at the new site the club owns and operates other training pitches as you stated. In manadon it has a state of the art pitch one so we can use that with no fuss or bother. The other sites are more community based and isn't there one in Saltash too?.

As for Harpers Park i really don't know what the future would be for that place not sure the club will keep it going unless it bases it youth academy training there which is an option not a great one as they will have to use the portakabins. I guess another option could be as i said somewhere else on here to remove the fences and revert the ground back to parkland and maybe let amateur/youth football matches commence on there, the pitches are there so would make sense.

Need good training facilities, im fully supportive of this move.

Can't we build the ice shed on Harper's
Just for the hockey guy

I'm all for this as well, makes way more sense than new seats or spunking millions on the always to be shite grandstand.

My understading was that Argyle was looking for land to put all their club players training in to one location. This is from youth academy  to the first team and one of the pitches would become the main playing fixture pitch for the women team.

Tgwu wrote:

My understading was that Argyle was looking for land to put all their club players training in to one location. This is from youth academy  to the first team and one of the pitches would become the main playing fixture pitch for the women team.

they wont have the women playing at the new training ground not now they command attendances, the ladies wont want to miss out on the money generated by fans at their games and who would blame them especially as this new place wont be as open to fans as Harpers was till the fences went up. They will find a more permanent home in lieu of the manadon if their capacity isnt coping with an increase in attendances with the odd occasion at home park still i feel.

Angry wrote:

Tgwu wrote:

My understading was that Argyle was looking for land to put all their club players training in to one location. This is from youth academy  to the first team and one of the pitches would become the main playing fixture pitch for the women team.

they wont have the women playing at the new training ground not now they command attendances, the ladies wont want to miss out on the money generated by fans at their games and who would blame them especially as this new place wont be as open to fans as Harpers was till the fences went up. They will find a more permanent home in lieu of the manadon if their capacity isnt coping with an increase in attendances with the odd occasion at home park still i feel.

I'd be amazed if the attendance bounce from the Euros lasts very long for the woman's teams. As I've said elsewhere I don't think it's our job to prop up the woman's game and with the squeeze on living costs our attendance will suffer somewhat and all the new fans never bothered with it before.

Angry wrote:

PlymptonPilgrim wrote:

akagreengull wrote:

Sounds positive to me all part of this "We have a very clear, long-term strategic vision to become a sustainable Championship football club."
As a lifelong fan I expect nothing less.

Absolutely. To be a top club, we need top facilities which will help attract the better players.

exactly thius is a good thing and the benefits will be untold in years to come.

I do wonder what the club will do with Harper's Park after they moved out as a part from removing the fences and giving the land back to central park there is alot that can be done with it beyond youth/amateur football matches.

Apparently no immediate plans for Harper’s Park

Graiser wrote:

Angry wrote:

PlymptonPilgrim wrote:

akagreengull wrote:

Sounds positive to me all part of this "We have a very clear, long-term strategic vision to become a sustainable Championship football club."
As a lifelong fan I expect nothing less.

Absolutely. To be a top club, we need top facilities which will help attract the better players.

exactly thius is a good thing and the benefits will be untold in years to come.

I do wonder what the club will do with Harper's Park after they moved out as a part from removing the fences and giving the land back to central park there is alot that can be done with it beyond youth/amateur football matches.

Apparently no immediate plans for Harper’s Park

Harper’s Park is rented

well,

Training Ground Development Update

from the link wrote:

We are writing to supporters to provide an update on the planned development of a new training facility for our players.

In August 2022, the club announced that an agreement had been reached to acquire the site of the Parkway Sports Club in Ernesettle, subject to planning permission being granted.

In the period since that announcement, the owners of Parkway Sports Club have informed the club that the terms of sale have changed and that the club would need to purchase the land at risk – in other words, before planning permission has been granted. This was not suitable to the club.

As a result of this development, and with a dedicated training site integral to the club’s long-term strategy, we continued to assess our options, and we are delighted to confirm that we have agreed in principle to purchase the site of Goals Plymouth, which sits adjacent to Home Park on Outland Road.

The benefits to the club, and by extension the community, are substantial, and represents a superior solution for the club than the prospective site in Ernesettle. This development provides the club with the opportunity to effectively expand the footprint of our base of operations at Home Park, the Harper’s Park training pitches, and Goals Plymouth into one much larger site.

In addition, existing facilities at Goals Plymouth can be efficiently adapted and further developed for club use, including the enhancement of already existing infrastructure.

As part of the acquisition, the club intends to continue running the five-a-side all-weather pitches for public use, bringing the operation under the club’s banner and branding, with more information to follow in due course.

Argyle Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Parkinson, said: “While it has been a challenge getting to this stage, the benefits for the club from this change of course are substantial, and we are very excited by the prospect of delivering our vision for the club much closer to the familiar surroundings of Home Park.

“This represents an outstanding opportunity for us, and I’m sure that supporters will share in our anticipation. As I said when we initially announced the plans for a new first-team site,
infrastructure enhancements are essential if Argyle are to prosper in the coming years, and this is another big step in the right direction.

“I would like to thank Goals Plymouth for their professionalism and communication throughout the process.”

Argyle Director of Football, Neil Dewsnip, said: “Acquiring the site of Goals Plymouth is extremely exciting for the club, and presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to build even greater foundations for footballing success.

As I have talked about before, having the best training facilities for our players is vital if we want to become the best Argyle we can be. As we all know, the ambition for this club is to operate at a higher level.

“I very much look forward to playing my role in the development of the facility.”

from that i gather they made a deal got told they got to pay for the land found it too expensive so decided to stay where they are and use goals in future so they dont have to spend so much...

brilliant forward thinking and totally makes me wonder where the money for the £4m is actually going to go if not on a new training ground or buying players.

Hmm! …isn’t staplewallet or his son still own or got anythink to do with goals still  ..wasn’t his son fronting it as manager at one stage …not sure if there still involved this was a while back though

Didn't Stapes used to be involved in Goals? Bit of an odd statement to say that this represents a "superior solution" to Ernesettle-so why not go for it in the first place?

Spose he don’t care who he does buisness with let’s have it right he done business with Brent so he ain’t that choosey