Wycombe to move into QPR's former training ground

Wycombe Wanderers have secured a deal to take over QPR’s former training ground at Harlington in West London.

The League One club have been searching for their own training facility since being priced out of a deal to buy the Marlow Road site that they lease.

Harlington - which was Chelsea's training ground before being taken over by QPR - will now become the base for Wycombe's first-team operation. The club said it would also enable the development of a new Academy.

The site is owned by Imperial College London and boasts 18 full-size grass pitches and a floodlit FIFA-certified 3G pitch, as well as a gym, canteen, changing rooms, office and classroom space, meeting and video analysis rooms and a media studio. QPR owned the site before moving to a new training ground in Heston last summer.

Wycombe’s Chief Football Officer (and Interim Chairman) Dan Rice said: “Our vision for the sustainable growth and success of the club are underpinned by the need for Wycombe Wanderers to have access to first-class training facilities and we are delighted to have secured our deal with Imperial College London to achieve our goal.

“Harlington is an excellent venue for us to develop our plans for establishing our first team at a higher level, and for creating an academy at the highest possible standard. We have undergone a thorough process to identify and secure the right facility for us and Harlington - with convenient transport links and located close to both Wycombe and London - suits our requirements.”

Wycombe will move into their new training ground in time for the start of pre-season. The club had been in talks with Reading about purchasing their £50m Bearwood Park training ground, but that deal fell through.

In May, Kazakh billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze acquired a 90% stake in Wycombe from Rob Couhig. Lomtadze vowed to build a “leading high-performance academy” and to “integrate data analytics and technology to elevate the club’s performance to new levels.”

Lomtadze also said he was a “strong believer in youth development” and that this would be “fundamental to the club’s vision.”

Rice was hired from Everton, where he was Head of Emerging Talent, to become Chief Football Officer. Wycombe scrapped their Category Two Academy in 2012 and don't currently operate within the EPPP system.

Rice said the club's medium term goal was to gain promotion to the Championship, with their longer-term aim being to reach the Premier League.