MY initial response to reading the news on Twitter that Bury had secured the lease for Carrington was “wow”, and that feeling has only intensified as the full details have emerged.

I am excited for the players because I know what an amazing opportunity this is for them.

To be honest, it makes me want to be a player again, I wish I could go back to 1986 and be given this chance.

I remember training on Goshen, we had to comb the pitch to get rid of all the dog poo before getting started.

Every now and again the club hired The Cliff – Manchester United’s old training ground – and we absolutely loved it.

If I was in the players’ shoes, I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and get on the M60.

And I am sure they can’t wait to get out there and get started.

So fair play to the chairman for sealing this deal – five years at Carrington really takes the club to another level.

Don’t get me wrong, having state-of-the-art facilities doesn’t mean they are now certs for promotion.

But it means the players now have every opportunity to improve.

It is much easier to work on your technique on the surfaces they have at Carrington than at Lower Gigg.

So there are no excuses. The manager – David Flitcroft – and his players have been given all the support they need to perform.

There will be a feelgood factor in the camp that should translate to the pitch in the coming weeks, so the timing is great in that sense.

But the most important benefit to the club will be in the long term.

For a start, Carrington will play an important role in helping to attract players, but you cannot underestimate the impact this well have on the youngsters in the youth set-up.

For many years, when I worked in the academy at Preston, the kids and senior players used the same training ground.

They might not have trained together every day, but the first teamers would sit down with the young lads, share a cuppa and give them advice.

Our youth players were also able to see the dedication shown by the senior side and knew just what it took to get there.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that we had a lot of youth team players progress into the senior side as a result, because it tailed off after the academy was moved to a separate site.

So I share the views of Flicker and the Bury directors - getting all of the club’s teams training together at Carrington should prove to be the most significant outcome of this week’s move.