pitches either side of a grandstand, where the club's under-21 and under-18 sides train and play matches. Laid a year earlier was the first team pitch, also Fibresand, and now adjacent to the new Mark Liebherr Pavilion, named in honour of the late recent owner who saved the club from administration. The Pavilion was opened at the beginning of November and houses state-of-the-art indoor training facilities.

Staplewood's other existing grass pitch is natural soil based, but this is due to be up-graded to a Fibre pitch in March, for completion in May. The first three Fibresand pitches and the 3G were constructed successfully and satisfactorily by contractors Kestrel, Andy tells me.

Earlier this year, the club bought further land enabling the construction of five more grass pitches - one fullsize, and four varying size academy pitches - and another 3G. It was to be a massive expansion. CRL moved straight from St Mary's, once the stadium pitch refit had been completed in May, to begin work on the new training pitches construction. The extended 11-pitch complex is scheduled to be completed early in 2015.

The budget for the project, with the six new pitches, plus all the walkways and landscaping, is £2 million. It wouldn't mean much in the January transfer window but, as autumn turned to winter, it looked like another of Saint's home-grown products would soon be bearing fruit.

As Andy takes me around the complex, it is still very much a work in progress. The grass pitches had already been constructed and seeded and he was