'Derry City will go nowhere without proper facilities says Sean Barrett

​Now the Brandywell club has managed to wrestle the man who guided Larne to unprecedented success both domestically and in Europe from the grip of the Irish League champions, Barrett believes it's time to marry success on the pitch with developments off it.

The football club held another meeting with Brandywell owners Derry City and Strabane District Council on Wednesday about the replacement of the current artificial surface at the ground and a Council spokesperson said similar meetings will take place 'on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues including the ongoing works that are being carried out at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.'

Chairman, Philip O'Doherty has funded the erection of the new North Terrace at the Brandywell Road end and Mr Barrett insists plans are afoot for a new training base for the club.

Tiernan Lynch claims Derry City need somewhere to call 'home' in terms of having a training facility where he has plans to develop the structures of the football club. "You need a home," said Lynch. "You need somewhere where you can build that culture. That culture isn't built on a football pitch over 90 minutes. That culture is built on the blood and the sweat and the tears you give every single day.

"And I think that's something when you have a home and are able to add those levels of professionalism and you're able to get your analysis done and they're eating together and you're able to control what they're eating and understanding their weights and their body fats that you can get them watching their games together and understanding the areas we need to improve as a team.

"But also understand the areas we're doing really well as a team. All that happens on the training field. That's not something that happens at the Brandywell.

"The more time we spend together and the more we get to know each other and all that will help add to the culture."

And Barrett agrees Derry City must emulate the incredible progress and off-pitch developments made by Larne during the seven-and-a-half years Lynch was at the helm.

The Belfast man will no doubt have a major say in plans for the planned state-of-the-art training facility and Barrett revealed he will be involved in the interview process for the recently advertised Head of Youth Academy.

With the new stand on schedule to be completed by the start of next season, Barrett reckons it's an 'exciting time' for the club.

“We need to get the facilities right otherwise we’ll be going nowhere. The new stand's getting built will be finished now in February, we're hoping to continue the facilities here at the Brandywell as well as the new state of the art facility for the training academy with three pitches, so all that and all that going forward as a club Tiernan has shown and proved that.

“I went up to Larne just to have a look around and I was blown away by what I seen there, it was fabulous facilities and I really, I said look, we need to emulate this.

"Ninety nine from 100 people would say Derry's a bigger club than Larne but the facilities that they have compared to ours . . . what these guys have done over the last five or six years has been absolutely fantastic.”