The "Phoenix Nest" Project
What is the "Phoenix Nest" project?
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 needed our own venue that we could grow and enhance in parallel with the club.
Yeah, but you can't just find a spare pitch down the back of the couch... can you?
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.
Sounds too good to be true, how long are we talking?
PMGC is a pretty lengthy process in isolation (likely taking over a year to complete) and is made up for of multiple stages, but even after that we knew we'd initially have to repair any venue we took over and with grass pitches, that needs to take place during specific seasons.
Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.
Bill Shankly
Multi-Year Approach
Planning for the future
I love grass pitches, but the Scottish weather doesn't.
In the first year our focus will be on securing a long term lease on a suitable venue and repairing the pitches for use on match days once usable (hopefully in April 2025).
The 2nd and 3rd years will need to be focussed on securing funds to install floodlights, 3G pitches (which will require significant grants and funding likely 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 our current U14s will be U18s and we'll be establishing 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?"
Want to lend a hand?
Your support is appreciated!
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 professtional 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!
Phoenix Girls FC
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