Martin Dubravka has revealed that Newcastle United players feel 'much better' at the club's new-look training ground after the facility was 'transformed'.
Although Newcastle's owners still plan to build a new state of the art training base, modernisation work is continuing on the club's Benton facility in the interim to bring it up to standard after those at the top recognised it fell 'significantly below the Premier League and perhaps even Championship standards'. With each passing month, the training ground has started to open up since work first started last summer and you only have to look at the outside of the main building to see how much has changed.
The tired cream paint that symbolised the Ashley era has been replaced by black panelling and floor to ceiling windows have brought more natural light into the new canteen. By the time the multi-million pound project is completed, the players will have access to hydrotherapy and plunge pools, and they have already been making use of a host of new features, including an improved gym, a lounge where the old treatment room used to be, a modern 30-seat presentation room, an expanded physio room and a bigger dressing room.
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"The dressing room was completely new," Dubravka told the club's match day programme. "I spent five years here and it was nice, but it needed to be rebuilt.
"The canteen was completely transformed - you have so much space. You have so many people now here, who work here, even the physio room - it's much bigger. So many physios are here now. I'm glad that this improved because it had to be done.
"You can tell in recent years they didn't invest as much as they could probably and as much as the club deserved. We are in a position now where we can really achieve good things. The training ground looks great now. You feel much better here. You like to spend time here. You're coming into a nice environment."
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