Almost two years since it opened, Newport's Dragon Park has put the city firmly on the footballing map. CIARAN KELLY reports.

ON September 1, 2013, Gareth Bale became the world’s most expensive footballer when he joined Real Madrid for a whopping £86 million.

The move was said to reflect how far Welsh football had come in having a genuine superstar who could rival the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Yet, five months previously, what could prove an even more significant development took place in Welsh football: the opening of Dragon Park in Newport on April 23, 2013.

The state-of-the-art £5 million facility has been funded with investment from Uefa, the Football Association of Wales (FAW), Sport Wales and Fifa.

As well as having two full-sized premium grass pitches, the facility has a 3G pitch, one fibre sand pitch with floodlighting, and a synthetic warm-up and goalkeeping area.

Granted a 125-year lease by Newport City Council, Dragon Park provides the headquarters for the Welsh Football Trust, the game’s development body, with analysis suites, sports science laboratories, and coach education facilities, all in-house.

The centre, which employs 40 members of staff, is intended to aid every branch of the Wales set-up — from the under-12s all the way up to the senior team.

Clearly, rather than being content with the relatively recent developments of the likes of Bale, Aaron Ramsey (of Arsenal) and Joe Allen (of Liverpool), this was a move by the FAW to ensure that these high standards are maintained.

Neil Ward, chief executive of the Wales Football Trust, said: “Players who may also qualify to play for England see this excellent facility and it shows them that Wales can have success on the international stage.

“We don’t have the resources that England and Germany have. We have to use them optimally and Dragon Park has proved an inspirational place to work for both the staff and for young players.

“Before, we were transient and moved from one facility to another – working out of university facilities. It didn’t set the right impression and made administration difficult.

“Now, with this facility, we want to ensure that the pathway to elite development is as strong as possible. If we stand still, we go backwards.

“Our role is to build a better future for Wales and give our managers the best possible chance of qualifying for world and European championships.”

The results have been near instant: Wales’ under-16 team won the prestigious Victory Shield for the first time in 66 years in 2015 and have defeated talented France, Switzerland and Belgium sides in the past 12 months.

Wales’ under-17 and under-19 teams have since qualified for the European Championships and, following a decent start, Wales’ senior side are on course to qualify for their first major international tournament since 1958.

Clearly, the fruits of the possession-based philosophy laid out by FAW technical director Osian Roberts have been embraced by each age group.

With the same philosophy, playing style and medical methods, moving through the international ranks has proved less disconcerting for young players.

In fact, prodigious talents like Tyler Roberts and Matthew Smith have made a seamless transition from playing for Wales’ under-15s to playing for their under-17s.

This is also the case at senior level, with George Williams, 19, Emyr Huws, 21, and Jonathan Williams, 21, having been capped after rising through the ranks.

Sessions have become more intense, with player pools being reduced from 48 to a maximum of 22 at youth level, and infrequent week-long trips away have been replaced by shorter, more regular, retreats at Dragon Park.

So, while these positive changes are leaving their mark on the future of Welsh football, the centre is also proving itself as one of Europe’s leading educators for the next generation of football coaches.

Former Arsenal superstar Thierry Henry even paid the facility a visit in January for an impromptu coaching session and the centre’s A-licence course has already gained a big reputation, having attracted the likes of Patrick Vieira, Sol Campbell, David Ginola and Swansea City manager Garry Monk in the past two years.

Technical programmes manager Carl Darlington, who helps run the A-licence course, said: “The courses are centred on making sure Welsh-based coaches are catered for, as well as the big names who want to do their qualifications in Wales.

“Sitting next to a World Cup winner is a huge education in itself and it gives a different flavour when Patrick Vieira talks about playing under (Jose) Mourinho or (Fabio) Capello. Even during their down time, they learn so much from each other.

“Thierry Henry even came in for the day to help the under-15s and under-16s, and held a couple of sessions for the forwards. It was a possession session on what he learnt at Barcelona and the kids were in awe. It was absolutely priceless.

“But if the course was not right they would not come back, and we don’t just want 24 clones.

“It’s designed to help shape their own personal philosophy and shape them as an individual. We encourage them to open their minds. We have a hub for it now at Dragon Park and it’s really exciting.”

Each year, a maximum of 24 candidates from more than 100 applicants in Europe are selected as part of this prestigious course, which costs £3,700 per candidate.

Candidates have three years to pass their exams to obtain their licence and spend several sessions at Dragon Park in the first year. These intensive sessions — some days 11 hours are spent in the classroom — are made up of two five-day retreats and four two-day retreats.

At these sessions, candidates learn about the technical, tactical, physical and mental requirements of modern football to prepare them for their future coaching path. They also learn about sports science and sports medicine.

A group of three or four candidates are then assigned to a mentor at Dragon Park, who regularly keeps in contact with them and arranges to meet them even after they have finished their retreats.

In the past, candidates would attend for nine intensive days at the start and the end of the year with no contact in between and be assessed while coaching either their colleagues on the course or children brought in from outside.

At the centre, with workshops from the likes of Ian Mitchell, a psychologist at Swansea City, Ryland Morgans, head of fitness and conditioning at Liverpool FC, and Bryn Law, a Sky Sports reporter, candidates gain a greater insight into every aspect of life as a top-level sports coach to go with their studies.

At the forefront of progressive teaching methods, Dragon Park also has plans for online learning courses and has even used a Sky drone to track the tactical positioning of players for sessions.

Mike Flynn, 34, footballer and a key figure in the youth academy set-up at Newport County AFC, undertook his A-licence at Dragon Park in 2013 alongside the likes of former internationals Patrick Vieira (France) and Sol Campbell (England).

He said: “It was unbelievable: the level of coaches and what they delivered was outstanding at Dragon Park. It was such a professional set-up and we learnt about everything from sport science to how to handle the media.

“It was work, work, work so it was nice to have dinner and pick the brains of the lads from both ends of the spectrum.

“Patrick Vieira was a gentleman and treated everyone the same. He’s one of the few to have been in situations of such high pressure.

“It’s given me preparation for the next step.”