Stephen McManus Explains How Barrowfield Redevelopment Will Benefit Celtic’s Youngsters

Work is continuing at Celtic’s Barrowfield training centre ahead of the new season commencing.

The site is finally getting redeveloped, with major financial investment taking place.

It is said to be the most significant infrastructure improvement by the club since the makeover of Celtic Park during the late 1990s.

For the Hoops’ academy, the benefits of the new development are widespread.

A new indoor pitch means youngsters can play and train all year round, with Sports Science and analysis centres ensuring the latest trends in Football are kept up with.

Stephen McManus, coach of Celtic’s B team, outlined just how much the new facility will benefit the champions’ academy.

“When you see the plans, it’s going to be a fantastic facility and one that certainly deserves a lot of credit”, he said (Celtic FC on YouTube).

“For the B team and the teams throughout the academy, having an indoor facility that has the capability of playing 11-a-side Games is really important because they need to continue to train even when the conditions are quite difficult.

“I think it’s important there’s a training ground that you can see the stadium from. For young players it’s really important – it’s got to be key.

“There’s a lot of History but Football moves on quickly so it’s important that we get up to speed and have a facility we can be extremely proud of. When it’s finished it’s going to be along with the European elite.”

When works on Barrowfield were officially confirmed to have started in September last year, it was said they would take around 12-15 months to complete. This means that we can expect to see the new state-of-the-art centre be opened before the end of the year.

Celtic’s youngsters, and women’s side, will reap the rewards of the investment in Barrowfield, which is ensuring the Scottish champions maintain their place among Europe’s elite.