After an inaugural season that saw FC Cincinnati record new highs in attendance, welcome more than 35,000 fans to its first international exhibition and finish comfortably in the top three in the USL’s Eastern Conference, you might think there would be the chance for the club to reflect on the successes it had accomplished over the past 12 months.

But that’s not the way the club, and particularly FCC President Jeff Berding, looks at things.

“We had a special inaugural year. The team played winning soccer, but that’s all in the past now, and it is only meaningful if we build on it in Year 2, and we intend to do so,” said Berding this week. “We were back at work on Monday after our playoff loss, and we’ve been here every day since, no vacation, determined to make 2017 even more successful than 2016.”

With that in mind, Berding recently went on an extensive trip to England and the Netherlands, which afforded him the chance to learn from some of the top clubs in both countries and bring back ideas that will continue the growth of FC Cincinnati both on and off the field.

Making visits to clubs like Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, England’s National Training Facility at St. George’s Park, as well as four Eredivisie clubs including PSV Eindhoven and Ajax, Berding had a glimpse into the way clubs at the highest level operate. Berding’s visit to Spurs’ new Enfield Training Center, in particular, was an eye-opening experience.

“Everyone had said Tottenham’s training facility was the new model, and it was as if you were going to Augusta National,” Berding said. “There wasn’t a blade of grass out of place, everything was pristine, all of their facilities were completely thought through in terms of the structural placement within the building, and how things were designed was with the highest level of player development in mind. It was just extraordinary.”