When
Arsène Wenger joined
Arsenal in October 1996, he attempted to organise an extra training session at
University College London Union (UCLU) Sports Grounds in Shenley, for the benefit of getting to know his players. Wenger was told that the ground – owned by UCL, was reserved for its students, which left him not knowing "whether to laugh or cry". Arsenal temporarily rehoused their training base to the
Sopwell House Hotel in
St Albans. Wenger, dismayed by the arrangement, campaigned for a purpose-built, Arsenal-owned ground that housed the latest training equipment. By February 1998,
Hertsmere Borough Council had granted consent for Arsenal to build a training centre on greenfield land, adjacent to a local school, in the Bell Lane area,
London Colney. It is situated adjacent to the former facilities at the Shenley UCLU Sports Grounds, which is now used by
Watford Football Club as
its training centre. They concluded it was "essential to support the training facility", that it would replace an existing building used by the club and that Arsenal's community work "constituted exceptional circumstances". Richard Marshall and Dearle & Henderson designed the training ground and its facilities. Wenger was "heavily involved" in the process – "even down to the kitchens" and shared ideas from his time as
Nagoya Grampus manager, when the club itself was building its own training centre. As part of a fact-finding mission, club representatives visited other training facilities around Europe, such as
Bayern Munich and
Auxerre. The project, transforming a 140-acre site, was completed in 45 weeks at a cost of £10 million. Arsenal financed this through the transfer of
Nicolas Anelka to
Real Madrid for £22.5 million in August 1999. The Arsenal Training Centre was opened by
Sports Minister Kate Hoey on 11 October 1999. In February 2024, Arsenal announced the club sold the
naming rights of the centre to Dubai-based real estate company
Sobha: it has since become known as the Sobha Realty Training Centre. ==Facilities==