Premier League side West Ham United will "carry out an urgent upgrade" on its Rush Green training center. New Manager Manuel Pellegrini was "less than impressed with the facilities" and work will "start imminently" as West Ham has planning permission to work on the 29-acre site. Pellegrini will "doubtless demand more privacy than afforded to his predecessor David Moyes, who was astonished to share a changing room with 14 coaches and backroom staff" (London DAILY MAIL, 7/17).
League One side Bristol Rovers will introduce a new big screen at Memorial Stadium for the '18-19 season. The club announced the screen will arrive for the start of the new campaign "thanks to a sponsorship deal" with Bristol-based insurance broker Brunel Group. The company agreed to sponsor the South Stand at the stadium for the next three seasons but it is "also helping to transform the matchday experience for supporters" (BRISTOL POST, 7/18).
Rugby Football League Championship side Sheffield Eagles said that spiraling costs at its new home are "strangling the club and its future existence," yet pleas for a council loan "have fallen on deaf ears." The "club returned to the city, where it now plays home games on a new artificial pitch at the Olympic Legacy Park," in March. But its "long-awaited homecoming has been soured by soaring costs," including £10,000 ($13,100) "needed to fence off the ground, and other expenses like temporary seating, toilets and security" (THE STAR, 7/17).
Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges committed HK$1.5B ($191.1M) to redevelop the training facilities at Sha Tin. The Jockey Club has spent most of the past decade focusing on the development of the Conghua Training Centre, but with that officially opening on Aug. 28, "it can now turn its attention to improvements at home" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 7/18).
