DEFENDING champions Leicester City are the latest Premier League club to link up with Bracknell Town FC, writes Dave Wright.

The Fox Soccer Academy UK will join the Chelsea FC Foundation at the new-look Larges Lane as from next month.

Leicester’s involvement is being launched tomorrow (Thursday evening) when their Austrian defender, Christian Fuchs, is due to visit the club.

Open to players in the 12 to 16 age-group category, sessions will be held every Wednesday between January 18 and March 22 from 4.30pm to 6.30pm.

Chelsea will be using Larges Lane as a pre-development centre for those aged five to 13, starting on Monday, January 16.

Bracknell chairman Kayne Steinborne-Busse said: “We are proud to be hosting the Chelsea FC Foundation and the Fox Academy with Christian Fuchs.

“Their presence will help showcase our club and the first-class facilities we can offer. We will also be launching our own Educational Academy. in the new year.”

These are certainly exciting times for the Bracknell club, who last night (Tuesday) used their new 3G pitch for the first time for an Hellenic League match against local rivals Binfield.

Although work on refurbishing the ground will not be completed until April, Steinborne-Busse is delighted with the progress being made on and off the field.

He said: “To be honest, performances have far outweighed the expectations that we had set out at the start of the campaign, and that’s a great credit to the manager, his players and to everyone who works so hard to make sure they are fully prepared for every game.

“The attitude around the club has been great over the last few months, but nobody is getting carried away.

“It’s no secret that this club was in a bad way last season, but the rebuilding process has been great.

“By building the right team of people at the core of the club, and with a clear strategy to work towards, we’ll be able to make improvements in all areas.

“We are in the process of welcoming new sponsors who are excited about working with us in the months and years to come.

“There is new-found spirit and togetherness on the pitch and around the club.”

The ambitious chairman added: “We are all working together towards making the right changes for the good of the club. The journey involves many people loyal to Bracknell Town FC, and whilst we can’t please all the people all the time, I hope we can deliver a club everyone is proud of.”

Manager Mark Tallentire and his players are certainly playing their part in raising the club’s profile and fortunes, with the team up to fourth place in the Hellenic League and with every chance of climbing higher.

Last Saturday they won 5-0 at struggling Burnham with leading scorer Adam Cornell netting four of the goals.

Tallentire confessed after the match: “It could have been one of those banana-skin games for us, but we mentally prepared right for the game.

“In the first half I thought our domination probably deserved another couple of goals. Our movement was good and we created chances. We looked solid at the back and didn’t take any risks.”