An ex-Premier League footballer wants to train the next generation of Olympians on a Wandsworth industrial estate.
Nedum Onuoha, who spent more than a decade in the English top flight with Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers, has asked for permission to turn a former greeting cards warehouse into an “elite athletic performance centre”.
Move HQ, a company Mr Onuoha runs alongside sport scientist Mark Munroe (also formerly of QPR), submitted documents to Wandsworth Council that outline an ambitious vision for the site in Merton Road, next to King George’s Park.
With a proposed full-time staff of 30, including coaches, maintenance and support staff, the centre would differ from a normal gym because of its focus on improving performance – “speed, agility, power, strength and mobility”.
Currently plying his trade in America for Real Salt Lake, Mr Onuoha was an impressive track and field athlete at junior level.
And “at the heart” of the project would be an outreach programme for local state-funded schools; Southfields Academy is just over the road and Riversdale Primary School is not much further.
One document reads: “We want to facilitate the athletic development of talented and aspiring local children and youths.
“Through access to our facility and coaches we want to support the journey of the enthusiastic school pupils through to elite performers and Olympians.
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