Trafford Training Centre

Trafford Training Centre

Carrington
Manchester United training ground
Former names	Trafford Training Centre
Location	Carrington Greater Manchester
Coordinates	53°25′04″N 02°22′30″W / 53.41778°N 2.37500°W / 53.41778; -2.37500
Owner	Manchester United
Type	Sports training facility
Surface	Grass pitches (12) Synthetic turf (2)
Construction
Built	1999–2002
Expanded	2012–2013
Construction cost	Total: £60 million
Tenants
Manchester United

Trafford Training Centre (usually referred to by the synecdoche of Carrington) is the training ground and academy headquarters of English football club Manchester United. It is near the village of Carrington, Greater Manchester, England, and replaced The Cliff as the club's training ground in 2000. Construction on the complex began in 1999, the main building was opened and the first team moved in in 2000, followed in 2002 by the Academy facility, home to the club's renowned youth system. In 2013, major additions were completed at the complex, including a medical centre and sports science department.^{[citation needed]}

At the end of the 1990s, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson felt that the club's training ground, The Cliff (which had been in use since 1938), was inadequate as the Premier League entered the 21st century. Ferguson was also unhappy about the lack of privacy at The Cliff, with journalists present on a daily basis, opposition team scouts able to watch training sessions, and supporters asking for autographs and photographs with players. The club's board set about finding a new location for their training ground, and purchased more than 100 acres of secluded land in Carrington – less than 10 miles (16 km) from Old Trafford stadium – with a vision to transform it into a world-class sports training facility. Construction began in 1999, with a budget of £22 million, of which £14 million was spent on the Main Building (first team) which opened in the summer of 2000, and a further £8 million spent on the Academy Facility, opening in the summer of 2002. A new £25 million medical and sports science facility was constructed on the grounds in 2013.^[1] This brought the total cost of construction to over £60 million. Approximately 300 people work at Carrington on a daily basis.^[2]