Exeter City Supporters' Trust approve £2.2m training ground investment

The main training ground building will be demolished as part of the plans

Exeter City Supporters' Trust have approved spending £2.2m on new training ground facilities.

The Trust has also made a £600,000 loan available towards the cost of the work.

Much of the rest of the funding comes from the proceeds of England striker Ollie Watkins' £28m transfer to Aston Villa from Brentford.

Watkins, 25, began his career at Exeter and the club has received around £4.5m in add-ons since his move to Villa Park in the summer of 2020.

Exeter City Supporters' Trust own the League Two club and were polled on whether it should take place - 97% of members who voted were in favour of the plans with 96% agreeing to make the £600,00 loan available to the club.

"I think it's an important moment for the football club," Exeter City manager Matt Taylor told BBC Sport.

"We've invested an awful lot of money into various aspects of the football club over the years, but to finally get some investment in the buildings at the training ground is a really good sign for the club and a sign that we're going in the right direction.

"This building has probably been held together through volunteers, through teamwork, through individual funding form supporter groups over a number of years now and is in drastic need of some investment, so it's a big day for the football club."

The plan would see the removal of buildings which were put up as temporary structures more than 30 years ago to be replaced with a two-storey building that would include a new gym, video analysis room and canteen.

It will also allow the academy to leave temporary buildings nearby and move into the same building.

Exeter aim to sign contracts for the work in the next few days and hope to have it completed by September 2022.