Basically, we want a home! Actually it's a bit more than that as we want to establish a hub for the girls game readily accessible to the North West of Glasgow and Bearsden.
Phoenix Girls FC was created overnight when we broke away from a traditional boys club to focus solely on the girls game. We started on the 1st of December 2022 with an amazing 96 registered players. We took every pitch let Glasgow Life Scotstoun (who were, and still are, utterly fantastic!) could allow, but our growth was substational. We grew by over 50% in the first year which then jumped to 176 registered players a mere 14 months from inception! We had to expand from Scotstoun and ended up spreading training nights across Scotstoun, Bearsden Academy and the Allander.
We need our own venue so that we can grow and enhance it in parallel with the club.
No, you are right, however, since COVID there are several disused / rundown grass pitches across Glasgow and there is a process called "People Make Glasgow Communities" (PMGC) where we could apply to take a long term lease on one of these sites to manage it ourselves... so that's where we've started.
PMGC is a pretty lengthy process in isolation (likely taking around 2 years to complete) and is made up of multiple stages, but even after that we know we'll initially have to repair any venue we take over and with grass pitches, that needs to take place during specific seasons.
Bill Shankly
I love grass pitches, but the Scottish weather doesn't.
In the first year, after securing a long term lease on a suitable venue, our focus will be repairing the pitches for use on match days.
The 2nd and 3rd years will be focussed on securing funds to install floodlights, 3G pitches (which will require significant grants and funding in excess of £1m) and enhancing the facilities so that we can use the site every day and night of the week. This is the hard part but adds the most value and sustainability to the clubs future.
Once we have all weather pitches and floodlights, the worlds our oyster! By this point we will hopefully preparing to establish an adult team (if not done already!)... so now our focus natuarally turns to answering the question "so, what do we need to do to qualify for the Champions League?"
Honestly, this is a huge undertaking and we're all volunteers trying out best to create something lasting for the young girls that dream of being professional footballers in the not so distant future.
All support whether it's grants and funding or expertise and advice is greatly received so please reach out!
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