FOOTBALLER Conor Coady was the star guest at the grand opening of his former junior club’s new £52,000 home.

Rainford Rangers JFC have achieved their long term goal of getting their own home in the heart of their village.

For years they had to rely on school and council pitches but now a fundraising campaign has paid off and youngsters have the Jubilee Recreation ground to call their own.

And 18-year-old Liverpool academy starlet Coady, an England youth international who learned his trade with the Rangers, was there to see the superb new base and officially open the pitches, along with Allan Jones, the chair of Rainford Parish Council.

The ground includes five football pitches – one full size, two for youth football and two for mini-soccer, and was paid for, partly, by a £16,885 grant from the Football Foundation.

Rangers, who have 150 players aged from five to 14, now hope to boost the number of junior teams and create a girls’ section Rainford Rangers chairman, Graham Fenney, 61, said: “This is the culmination of a lot of hard work. The club has been in existence for 35 years and never had a base to call its own.

“Now after three years hard work – and fundraising that has involved our ‘buy a square metre’ campaign, people climbing Hadrian’s Wall and jumping from aeroplanes – we have achieved it.

“We’re grateful to everyone who helped. Conor was very pleased to see the new set up – hopefully we’ll unearth one or two more stars of the future.

“It’s right next to Rainford cricket and tennis clubs and means we’ve got a centre of sporting excellence down there now. The next step will be to improve the changing facilities – that’s phase two.”