Manager Gareth Ainsworth’s long-term vision for Gillingham includes a training facility that they can call their own.
The Gills train at the council-owned Beechings Cross site but their gym, treatment room and player facilities are at Priestfield Stadium, a short distance away.
Ainsworth has mentioned a few times about having a training base of their own and expanded on the subject as he spoke about his long-term hope for the club.
He said: “I would love this club to one day be in a different division than the one we are in now and to have our own training ground – this is Gareth Ainsworth’s dream, this is my dream.
“There’s all sorts of money that needs to be paid and things to be bought, but you have this utopian vision. I want the boys arriving at the training ground, which is ours, and all that sort of stuff.
“We’ll get there one day. It does take money and success and things like that, but I intend to work really hard to try and reach that and these boys can maybe have a legacy of that for Gillingham, because it’s tough not having your own training ground.
“Some other teams have it, but we’re in a very affluent part of the world. We’re in the south-east of the country. Land is expensive. Buildings are expensive. Upkeep is expensive. Standard of living is going through the roof. I totally understand that.
“It’s just a utopian vision and how cool would it be? You see on the TV sometimes all these flashy training grounds and that. You just want to be part of it.
“What I will say is that the club have backed me with doing up the dressing rooms [this summer]. They’ve done the [upstairs] rooms up themselves. They’ve made it as good as it possibly can be for these boys. I know the boys appreciate it.
“I just want to always be better and bigger and stronger. I think it’s probably called ambition and that’s what I will be until the day I stop doing this.”
Ainsworth’s on a contract that runs until the end of next season but hopes to lead the Gills out of League 2, with the club’s owners hoping he can plot a path back towards the Championship.
“You can never give up on your long-term goals,” said the manager.
“Football is looked at as very short-term sometimes. Twice a week you get judged. Whereas companies get judged every six months, or once a year. We’re constantly getting judged. ‘Are you good enough? Are you this? Are you that?’
“It is tough sometimes but never lose hope of that long-term vision. It’s never linear but as long as we’re sort of slanting upwards, that’s where I want to go. Hopefully we can get there.”
The Gills have been long-term tenants at Beechings Cross but a few seasons ago were forced to decamp to King’s Hill and other venues after contaminated soil was used on the site during pitch maintenance.
Back in 2012 there was a dispute over unpaid bills and threats of eviction, which was eventually settled.
The top area of Beechings Cross, known as the ‘southern plateau’, is used for grassroots football.
A recently acquired grant from the Football Foundation will see that area get additional investment. Close to £900k in funding will see 62 grass pitches across 17 sites in Medway benefit from the extra investment.
The Gills enjoyed a season of discounted training when Medway Council were official club sponsors but went back to paying “a commercial rate” for using the facility ahead of the 2019/20 season
The lower part of the site is reserved for GFC use only, and maintained by the club. They also have access to the car park and changing rooms and it’s the home venue for the club’s under-16 and under-18 teams.
Gillingham’s younger age groups on the academy programme are based at the University of Kent at Canterbury, with development centres dotted around the county.
