Lancashire and RPSG buy back land sold in 1962 to expand Old Trafford’s training base
Lancashire have reacquired a site they sold more than six decades ago, with Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG Group paying alongside them. Three Super Giants franchises will get to use whatever is built on it.
Jul 27, 2026
Lancashire Cricket sold a piece of land behind Old Trafford in 1962. Sixty-four years later the club has bought it back, and it did so with an Indian conglomerate paying alongside it.
Lancashire and Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG Group have jointly acquired the site directly behind Emirates Old Trafford in what the county describes as a multi-million-pound deal. The plan is to knock the existing high-performance centre into something considerably bigger: upgraded indoor nets, a gym, outdoor training areas, and sports science and medical facilities on one site.
Three Super Giants teams, one training base
The access list is where this gets interesting for Indian readers. Lancashire’s professional, academy and age-group sides will use the centre, as expected. So will Manchester Super Giants, Durban’s Super Giants and Lucknow Super Giants, the three teams RPSG owns across the Hundred, the SA20 and the IPL. International and touring sides playing at Emirates Old Trafford get access too.
That is the logic of a multi-team ownership group made physical. An LSG player rehabbing in the English summer, a Durban recruit needing red-ball work, a Manchester squad reporting for the Hundred: all of them end up in the same building, with the same medical staff and the same data.
RPSG bought a 70 per cent stake in the Manchester franchise when the England and Wales Cricket Board sold equity in the Hundred, with Lancashire keeping the other 30 per cent. The team dropped the Originals name and played this season as Manchester Super Giants. Buying land is the part that follows.
What the two sides said
“Cricket is at the heart of RPSG Group’s sporting investments, and this partnership reflects our long-term commitment to the game,” Goenka said. “This is about leaving a lasting legacy for cricket in this region, a facility that will shape the development of players for generations to come.”
Dame Sarah Storey, elected Lancashire’s chair in May, was more measured about where the project actually stands. “There is still a considerable amount of work ahead as we develop detailed designs, engage with stakeholders and progress through the planning process,” she said, adding that improving training facilities would “directly enhance the opportunities across our talent pathway”.
No completion date has been given, and no cost figure beyond multi-million-pound. This is a land purchase and a statement of intent, not a ribbon-cutting.
The second ground is already open
Lancashire have been busy with concrete this year. AO Farington Cricket Ground, the county’s second home in South Ribble, opened officially on 9 July with two ovals, one for professional men’s and women’s fixtures and one for community and youth cricket. Lancashire’s men play their first competitive match there against Kent in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup on 28 July.
Put the two projects together and the direction is clear enough. Lancashire want the best training infrastructure in English cricket, and they have found a partner willing to fund it in exchange for a share of the benefit. Whether that model spreads to other counties depends on how many IPL owners are still shopping.