SWINDON Town remain intent on building a training base in Calne but the project has been put back to ensure it does not impede on the club’s ability to grow and evolve.

The plan was originally for the club to relocate to the Beversbrook Sports Facility by the end of October, with planning permission and funding in place for the £300,000 extension which will provide vastly superior facilities to what is available at current home Liddington.

With the club yet to make the move, Town’s operations manager Mark Isaacs revealed they are also now exploring what could eventually be an additional, unnamed, site in Swindon, but insisted they remain committed to Calne regardless of whether the site in the town is taken further or not.

Isaacs believes the club could move its training ground by the end of the season, or even sooner, but given the Robins have hopped around several training bases in the recent past, he insisted they would only move again once they have confirmed there is the necessary scope to expand and improve the site in future years if required.

“We want to deliver something which is a long-term facility for the football club,” he said. “The stadium has been here for a very long time and we have been allowed to grow and prosper here for a number of years which is the key really, because wherever we move training facilities to we want it to be the same.

“We are committed to having a Swindon Town base in Calne in some form, and that might mean the first team going there for a year and then we might look at this alternative position in Swindon.

“Swindon would be better because we use gym facilities at Next Generation and it would be great to be like a Premier League club with an area with all the modern facilities, but we have to be realistic in our approach.”

“You need to have a look at the whole club because you’ve got the first team, the youth team and Swindon Town Ladies so everything needs to be taken into account because we don’t want too much separation from teams all under the umbrella of Swindon Town.

“With any project you always come across things you want to discuss and there is no point rushing ahead and then finding in three years time that we want to expand further in Beversbrook and they say we can’t.”

In the meantime the Town first team will continue to train at Liddington despite owners PGL wishing to expand their operation on the site.

“We’ve had to spend a lot of money on that facility including a yearly lease, renovations, cleaning and work on the pitches,” Isaacs said.

“They (PGL) are also looking to expand themselves, which we weren’t aware of until a couple of months into the process, so there is a time when we need to make decisions.”

The new training base in Calne will include office space, changing rooms, a first rate physiotherapy area, canteen and a 3G pitch.