Baggies legend Tony 'Bomber' Brown unveils new £2.5m West Bromwich Albion academy base

The Baggies staged an open night to show off the new headquarters near The Hawthorns in Halfords Lane.

And Baggies legend Tony 'Bomber' Brown cut the ribbon to officially open the new base alongside 15-year-old academy striker Tyler Roberts, who plays for Wales and Albion's youth teams.

The academy moved into the building, which was formerly used by the Albion Foundation, in April 2013 but refurbishment work has continued and last night parents, youngsters and dignitaries got the chance to see the dressing rooms, classrooms and lounges.

The refurbishment of the former Tom Silk Building was part of a £2.5m project that also included the creation of a fourth generation artificial pitch alongside the building as well as an upgrade of pitches at the club's Great Barr training ground for use by the Baggies' older youth players.

Matt Layton, Albion's academy operations manager, said: "We have completed our new facilities with a total refurbishment to make it the best possible environment for our young players.

"We have classrooms, changing rooms, parents' rooms and all the things you would expect but also physio rooms and space for sports science.

"Over 200 layers use the facilities every week and that would include our 'pre-academy' youngsters, who are under-6s and under-7s who attend our sessions after school.

"It is mainly used by our under-9s through to under-16s, but the older lads also use it and it has also been used occasionally by the first team when bad weather affects their work at the training ground."

Albion carried out the improvement work at the site as part of their project to achieve category one status under the Premier League's recently-established Elite Player Performance Plan.

The club was granted the top status in 2012 after chairman Jeremy Peace pledged £2.5m for one-off building work as well as £3m-per-year to fund the running of the academy.

An indoor 'third generation' pitch was already in place alongside the site.

The club's under-9s to under-16s teams are now based at the Halfords Lane site with the under-18s and under-21s working alongside the first team at the training ground.

The site near The Hawthorns includes paintings of former academy players including current first-team star Saido Berahino, who was one of the first youngsters signed up when the academy was launched 10 years ago. And it includes rooms and doors named after Baggies legends with historic links to the club's youth programme.

It features the Howe Room, named after former full-back and manager Don Howe, who learned his trade as a youngster with the club, the Robson Room after ex-England captain Bryan Robson, who was also a Baggies youth-team player, and the Barlow Room, after legendary midfielder and former youth-team star Ray Barlow.

And it includes the Statham Entrance, after fans' favourite Derek Statham, and the Allen Entrance, after legendary striker Ronnie Allen, who went on the coach the club's youngsters.

Also on show are trophies won at youth tournaments over the years. The building's walls are emblazoned with inspirational quotes from famous sportsmen including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Johnson as well as from famous authors.

Mr Layton said: "The quotes have been picked out by various members of staff and the idea is to give the lads something they can aspire to.

"The facilities are a big selling point for us and the location, right by the stadium and between Birmingham and Smethwick, is excellent because our main catchment area is around here.

"Most of our boys are drawn from the local area." The classrooms stage academic lessons for the club's 16-18-year-olds, whose schooling is taken over by the club once they sign academy scholarships.

Younger youth-team players are educated at the neighbouring Sandwell Academy school.

When the building opened, Baggies academy manager Mark Harrison said:

" World-renowned football club academies talk about creating a family feel. We have got a really good family culture at the club already.

"Now we have a central hub where we can endorse and develop even further the work we do."