SWINDON Town have had their hand forced by the weather in the ongoing saga over their training base, making a temporary move to Beversbrook in Calne.

Town’s current base at Liddington has long been a cause of concern, with the standard of the facilities and susceptibility to the weather the main issues.

The club have been scouring the local area for some time in the search for a new base.

The recent lack of rain seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in regard to Liddington.

The facility is experiencing difficulty with its irrigation system and out of concern for the players’ well-being, the club are having a trial spell at the Calne location.

Earlier in the season, there were some positive noises made about Stanley Park in Chippenham, but these now appear to have been abandoned.

With the tenancy at Liddington expiring this summer, Cooper accepted a short-term move to Beversbrook for next season could be a possibility.

However the long-term aim is to find somewhere closer to Swindon.

“We’re exploring all options at the moment,” Cooper told the local media.

“Every door that we go to gets closed. (Beversbrook) is one realistic option (for next season) – it’s not ideal because of where it is, but there is nowhere else in the local area.

“We should have a training facility but that’s just the way it is. We’ve tried. I’ve been to 20 places but for one reason or another, we can’t seem to get there.

“We’re going to have a trial. We’re going to look at Beversbrook and try to train somewhere which isn’t like concrete.

“We need to try to look after the players, so we need some soft ground and Calne have assured us that we’ll get that.

“There’s no water (at Liddington).

“They’ve got problems with their irrigation and they can’t use the water at the moment so with us not having had any rain for a while, it’s a bit dangerous at the moment.”

Fraser Digby, Town’s advisor on the procurement of a new training base, explained some of the reasoning as to why Town are making the move to Beversbrook.

“I’ve been speaking with Lee (Power), Coops (Cooper) and Marcus (Cassidy, groundsman). Marcus does a lot of work down at Calne. That came up in conversation and they’re going to have a look at it,” said Digby.

“That’s not going to be a long-term thing - it’s just trying to find something that’s suitable for the first team.”