Plans have been approved to upgrade Rangers Football Club's training ground in Milngavie.

The Auchenhowie training complex will be improved with a new stand and further dressing room facilities, as well as a classroom area and additional floodlighting.

Opened in 2001, the facility sits on a 14-acre site and contains seven full-size pitches, an indoor pitch, and a half-sized pitch practice area

The project will be funded by Rangers Fans Fighting Fund (RFFF) with further support from the Scottish Football Partnership. Work on the 216 sq m facility is expected to start in January.

Speaking to rangers.co.uk, Managing Director Stewart Robertson said: "We are excited by this new project. Our Academy is a key part of our business plan and we are starting to see the benefits of the significant progress we have made in this area with the likes of Ross McCrorie, Jamie Barjonas and Ryan Hardie all featuring in recent weeks.

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"The stand will be a tangible legacy provided by the supporters which will also provide more dressing room capacity and education space, which will benefit our young players. It will facilitate greater utilisation of our Academy pitches and thereby the amount of time the players spend with a ball at their feet. Ultimately this will assist us in producing more players for the first team.

"The new floodlighting will also allow us greater pitch availability, which again will benefit the players. I would like to thank the RFFF for allowing us to push forward with this important and exciting initiative and, along with the support from our friends at the Scottish Football Partnership, we will deliver a facility that all Rangers fans can be proud of and which will benefit the club for years to come."

A spokesperson for RFFF said: "We are delighted the club has supported this proposal and we all look forward to seeing the benefits in the not too distant future."

(LM)