Wyrley Juniors FC planning £300k revamp of old ground

Staffordshire's biggest amateur football club is planning a £300,000 revamp of its old ground – just days after the official opening by Sir Trevor Brooking of its new £1.15 million home.

Wyrley Juniors FC, which has 700 young footballers on its books, needs both facilities to accommodate all its teams.

The club, which moved to new premises in Long Lane, Essington after a 10-year fundraising quest, runs 40 teams from across the West Midlands and Staffordshire, including Cannock, Wednesfield, Walsall and West Bromwich.

Three years ago club bosses signed a 20-year lease on the old ground in Hazel Lane, Great Wyrley, and now plan to build four changing rooms and a toilet block there.

Work will not start until the club has finished paying the £20,000 contract to seed and maintain six new pit-ches at Long Lane, due to be ready after Christmas and raising £40,000 for fencing to secure the Hazel Lane site.

Club chairman Keith Hardy said: "We're in a never-ending cycle of fundraising.

"There are 17 years left on the Hazel Lane ground and we're looking for any funding we can towards improving facilities. The players currently use Portacabins to change in.

"All our efforts at the moment are concentrated on paying off the last £4,000 towards the new pitches and after that we will turn our attention to Hazel Lane.

"Unfortunately we have suffered vandalism there, so we need to put up fencing before we start work."

Wyrley Juniors, named the FA's community club of the year in 2011, can now raise money through the bar and function room at the new clubhouse but still relies heavily on grants and sponsorship.