Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth’s dream of a training ground owned by the club

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