Former England and current Derby County FC manager Steve McClaren took time out to visit Codnor recently to open their new changing room pavilion. Whilst Steve was there to officially ‘cut the ribbon’, he was also keen to take a look around the new facility and check out the changing rooms in particular.

The pavilion is the result of a vision and many years hard work from all those involved in the Codnor Sports Charitable Trust and the new facility will benefit both the football and cricket clubs that are located on the site. The partner football club is Codnor Boys FC who are one of Derbyshire County FA’s, Charter Standard Community Clubs. They run 13 teams which also includes disability football provision.

The project started to become a reality just over 12 months ago, when the project was prioritised by the DCFA’s Strategy & Investment Group for support via The Football Foundation. The Trust worked extremely closely with Derbyshire County FA to develop Business and Football Development Plans that were aligned to the proposed facility.

All of their hard work was rewarded upon a successful application to The Football Foundation, which resulted in a grant offer of £310,446 towards the total project cost of £505,251. With their existing match funding in place and confirmed, this gave the project the green light to commence and led to the construction of another fantastic grassroots football facility in Derbyshire.

DCFA’s County Development Manager, Keely Brown said ’Many congratulations must go to all involved in Codnor Sports Charitable Trust for their drive and commitment to delivering this project. A big thank you must also go to Codnor Boys FC who are the partner club and have played an instrumental part in the development. All involved in the project as well as the local community will benefit from this superb new facility.

I must also thank Steve McClaren who took time out of his busy schedule to official open the facility and spend time signing autographs for the junior players’.