Northern Ireland’s football clubs crying out for investment, says manager

Northern Ireland football clubs have been “crying out for an investment” after seeing their grounds fall into disrepair, the manager of Carrick Rangers has said.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons announced on Thursday that 20 clubs would proceed to the next stage of the application process to procure a portion of £36.2 million as part of the Northern Ireland football fund performance programme.

The application from Co Antrim club Carrick Rangers is one of those to be progressed.

Manager Stephen Baxter said: “Northern Irish football is crying out for this type of investment.

“There’s a lack of investment in the local game.

“I’ve been involved in the game for 40 years now, player and manager.

“We need to see that infrastructure being changed and seeing those grounds being modernised and brought up to speed because it’s for the youth of the future.”

He added: “It will mean so much to the people of Carrick, they’ve waited such a long time to develop this ground and get a new stand built and to try and get new facilities that are so desperately needed.”

“We’ve now got incredible academies in all the local Irish league grounds where you have 300-600 young players coming through the clubs every week and people work tirelessly with them.

“That’s the lifeblood of our future. That’s where our money is going to be spent and what we are looking for.”