Debdale Park is new Stags’ training home

The facility offers three grass pitches that will be used throughout this season.

Explaining how the move came about, Richard John Hewitt, chairman of Debdale Sports Club, said: “Basically, there is a mutual friend of Paul Cox, who put us in touch with one another.

“Paul, ‘Coops’ (Richard Cooper, first team coach) and ‘Muz’ (Adam Murray, captain/assistant manager) came down, had a look around, liked the feel of the place and that’s how we got started.”

He continued: “As far as the committee, the trustees and myself are concerned, it’s a privilege to have the first team squad training here on a daily basis.”

Ivan Bailey, a volunteer at the complex, added: “Hopefully, I think (this partnership) might draw the community more into the club and the young kids may get more involved.”

Mansfield Town stadium director, Paul Broughton, also gave an update on the proposed training base at Woburn Lane, Pleasley, which was expected to be ready for the start of pre-season.

He said: “Unfortunately, we’ve had to stop work there at the moment as there has been a couple of people complain about the work that we’re doing.

“We informed (Mansfield District) Council that we would have to level the ground, but the only trouble is that it needs a bit more levelling than we anticipated initially.

“So we’ve had to stop work whilst we get the right approvals, etcetera, but it’s still ours and we will get Woburn Lane as our training site eventually.”