The Braidhurst campus

As part of the Scottish FA’s Performance Strategy, seven schools throughout the country were selected to operating programmes to develop the cream of Scotland’s talented young footballers.

The main idea is to marry football education with the normal curriculum, as part of the Scottish FA’s commitment to talented player development.

One of those schools selected was Braidhurst Academy in Forgewood, a site the sits just two miles from Fir Park.

Around the same time as the Scottish FA launched the Performance Schools project, Motherwell teamed up with North Lanarkshire Council to base our elite academy at the school.

The Motherwell academy boasts its own changing pavilion, with numerous dressing rooms and shower facilities. The facility has one full-size, fully enclosed artificial pitch and a full-size grass pitch, as well as meeting rooms, offices, a learning facility and an analysis room.