Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi returned to his first-ever team Cray Wanderers to see how the club have used Premier League Stadium Fund to support the construction of a new stadium.
The "Wands", based in Chislehurst, Kent, compete in the Isthmian Premier Division and, with the help of a £150,000 contribution from the Premier League Stadium Fund, have a new £1m stadium at Flamingo Park, complete with a 250-seat covered stand, all-weather astroturf pitch and LED floodlights.
Guehi, who played two full seasons for Cray Wanderers Juniors before the age of seven, was reunited with his childhood coach Steve Owen after making the eight-mile trip from the Crystal Palace training ground.
"It feels great to be back," Guehi said. "This place means everything to me. I'm grateful for everything I've experienced in my career and really it all began here.
"I'm grateful to Cray Wanderers. I'm grateful to Steve. I have only got good memories here, we had a good team, actually one of the best in the area and I can remember winning quite a few trophies with Cray Wanderers!
"In my day, we played on grass playing fields and my dad took me home nice and muddy! The pitch here looks like a great surface to play football on. It's important that the Premier League is able to support non-league and grassroots sides like here at Cray Wanderers. People are playing football and enjoying themselves and really there's nothing better than that."
Steve, who was given a big hug after surprising Marc in the club's pavilion, first spotted Guehi's potential at the age of five before recommending him to the Chelsea Academy. He is proud of what the now 24-year-old has gone on to achieve in his career so far.
"He's bigger, stronger and taller now but honestly Marc still plays with exactly the same style he did as a child," Steve said. "He's calm, intelligent and such a naturally talented defender, playing with his head up and with brilliant timing and tackles.
"It's the best job in the world to watch children play football and see them grow into great players and great people. Of course, you don't know which players are going to make it as a professional, a lot of that is down to hard work, training, but Marc was always first-class.
"He was mature even as a youngster and never late to anything. Partly because he was so local and only lived about a goal-kick away in that direction!"
Since 2000, more than 1,000 clubs playing in 100 divisions throughout the men's and women's football pyramid in England and Wales have received grants from the Premier League Stadium Fund totalling more than £200 million.
"Our name is actually quite accurate because, though we are London's oldest football club, for 164 years we never had a permanent home until this stadium was built," said Cray Wanderers CEO Sam Wright said. "The £150,0000 funding we received from the Premier League was crucial to the project. We are grateful for the support.
"We are incredibly proud of the stadium, which we think definitely stands out at our level of football. It's the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of brilliant people. This is phase one of our stadium development complete. We have plans to add another stand as part of phase two.
"I played for the club myself from the age of eight and it is incredible and inspiring for our young players to play in these facilities, knowing there's a Premier League captain and England international in Marc Guehi, who has started out here at Cray Wanderers and made that dream journey."
