"On the ground floor there were no windows. It felt like you were in a hospital in the basement. It was a slightly gloomy place, a gloomy rabbit warren."
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's first impressions of Carrington gave him no illusions as to what one of his first tasks should be if he succeeded in buying into Manchester United.
Two years on, Ratcliffe is describing those initial thoughts at the re-opening of the club's revamped training ground. He has invested £50m in the upgrades. The work took 12 months and was "on time and within budget".