SWINDON Town manager Mark Cooper has no plans to relocate his training sessions to Cirencester’s indoor arena when the pitches at the club’s Liddington facility succumb to the imminent winter weather.

Town’s Wanborough base has been suffering in recent weeks, with the playing surfaces chopping up as a result of daily use in wet conditions.

In recent seasons, the Robins have used Ciren Arena’s undercover 3G pitches to practise on during the cold snap, but Cooper thinks that is an “unrealistic” way of preparing for a competitive game on grass.

“For me it’s totally unrealistic because it’s totally different to what we play on on a Saturday. For as long as we can train on grass then we will,” he told the Advertiser.

“It’s not ideal at the moment but we’re a League One club and we have to cut our cloth accordingly and make do the best we can.

“We haven’t got undersoil heating, we haven’t got the facility to do anything different.”

Meanwhile, first-year pro Alex Ferguson has joined Chippenham Town on loan for a month.

The midfielder, who graduated from the club’s academy over the summer, has yet to play a minute of professional football.

He joins other youngsters Mark Francis, Connor Waldon and Kayden Jackson is being loaned out by Swindon this term.