THE Blues hope their training ground woes are over after striking a long-term deal to use facilities at a Chester school.

From this summer, the club will train at Chester Catholic High - with players from the first team to those in the centre of excellence using the venue as a permanent base.

In recent seasons, City's first team players have had to contend with uncertainty over training facilities, with various grass, indoor and all-weather pitches being used in Chester and nearby Ellesmere Port.

Now that uncertainty is a thing of the past, thanks mainly to the hard work of City director Bob Gray and centre of excellence co-ordinator Mark Newman, who led moves to secure Catholic High as a home for the Blues.

A statement on Chester's official website said: 'Being on one site will allow new manager Bobby Williamson to monitor the progress of City's young guns, while they are also able to learn from being in close proximity to the full time professionals.'

For several months, Blues chairman Stephen Vaughan has been looking at a number of other possible training ground venues with a view to either buying or leasing a site.

He has drawn a blank in that search, but the move to Catholic High has solved his problem.

City's youth team will continue to work closely with Airbus UK and use the Airfield for their home matches.