NEWS that Bury chairman Stewart Day was hoping to extend the club’s stay at Manchester City’s former Carrington training base was music to the ears of on-loan keeper Nick Pope.

The Charlton stopper admits the Premier League facilities, which Day wants to keep past the end of the current five-year lease, could well tempt him to stay at Bury long term.

Manager David Flitcroft has made no secret of the fact he would like to sign the 22-year-old keeper on a permanent deal.

And after keeping consecutive clean sheets this week to help secure back-to-back wins against promotion rivals Plymouth and Luton, it is clear Pope is enjoying his football at Bury.

When asked if he would be interested in signing for the League Two club, the youngster replied: “Definitely, 100 per cent.”

And he made no bones about the fact that the move to Carrington has played an important role in his future plans.

“It is the best training facility I have ever been to. It’s a great place to be,” he said.

“When you look at football clubs, they (training facilities) are the sort of thing you look at because that is where you are going day in, day out.

“It’s a massive part of a decision to join a club because that is where you get better as a player – on the training pitch.

“So it’s a massive thing.”

Danny Nardiello is at the opposite end of his career, but after suffering with a persistent groin injury this season, the former Manchester United striker is happier than most at the move to Carrington, which is just next door to the Red Devils’ training base.

“I didn’t think I would be training at Carrington again after leaving United,” said the 32-year-old, who started his career at Old Trafford.

“It’s a fantastic training ground and I feel really privileged to be there.

“The pitches are not heavy – they are perfect in fact – and they have the recovery suite that I will be able to use, with the hydrotherapy pools and stuff like that.

“I am always looking at ways to extend my career and being there could help.”

Both Pope and Nardiello will be relieved then that Day hopes to make Bury’s stay at Carrington permanent.

The chairman said he had put plans to build a new training complex in the town on hold indefinitely and would be looking into maybe even buying the complex in the future.

“The initial five years we agreed with Manchester City were put in place where it could grow longer than that,” he said.

“If it goes right for both parties we will be looking to extend the lease. Once you have got facilities like this it is very difficult to go somewhere else.

“The cost to develop our own facilities to get something even remotely close to what we have got here would be quite astronomical.”