Owenbeg facilities cultivating a strong bond in Derry City squad
SHANE Ferguson used to play Gaelic football in Owenbeg when he was younger and believes the County Derry training hub is the 'perfect' location for Derry City to prosper.
He's spent the past 15 years at clubs such as Newcastle United, Millwall, Rotherham in the English top divisions and so he's used to professional set-ups.
And the 33 year-old Tamnaherin man knows how beneficial the state-of-the-art training base on the outskirts of Dungiven will be to Derry City Football Club over the next couple of seasons.
"I used to come here when I was younger playing Gaelic, so it's nice to come back," he smiled. "It's changed quite a lot since the last time I was here though. It's perfect for us and has everything we need.
"We're not moving around a lot and this is our base. It's good to have everything in one place and it will definitely help us in the long term."
His former Northern Ireland international teammate Liam Boyce shares his admiration for the club's new training base and believes it's been crucial to cultivating a strong bond in the new-look Brandywell outfit.
"One of the reasons I really wanted to come to the club was Tiernan [Lynch] was talking about raising the standards and professionalism and talking about getting this training centre before it was announced," he said.
"It's similar to Hearts who have great facilities,” added the former Cliftonville hitman. “Just coming in everyday and the way you can see all the boys here playing table tennis and stuff gets everyone together and gives it that proper family feel.
"When you go on the pitch that's only going to help you because when you're in the shit you're going to back everyone up and I think that's the main thinking behind it."
"Everyone has bedded in really well," added Ferguson who already has an affinity with the club being from the locality. "We went to Cork and it was great. It gave the new signings a chance to bed in.
"We're walking into such a good dressing room. The lads have been brilliant. They had that experience last season and hopefully that can help us go one step further."
Ultimately that's the ambition for everyone at the club - to win the league title and bring sustained success to Foyleside. Being a Derry man, it would be that extra special for Ferguson.
"Everyone needs to be striving towards winning the league title and getting back into Europe. Derry is an absolutely massive club and should be looking towards those things.
"It would be unbelievable. It's one of the reasons I'm here. I want success and to have that for Derry. When the team is doing well there's such a buzz around the place and hopefully we can achieve that."