FA unveils training centre plans 20/01/2010 |
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The Football Association has revived plans for a permanent training base for the England team.
The 330-acre National Football Centre in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, will be renamed St George's Park and the scheme will fulfil a similar role to France's Clairefontaine and Coverciano in Italy. It was first announced eight years ago and is thought to have cost the FA about £25m to date.
St George’s Park will feature 12 pitches, including one synthetic and indoor, plus sports medicine and sports science facilities, two hotels and a conference centre.
NFC chairman David Sheepshanks said: "Our aim is to make St George's Park a sporting destination of choice for coaches, players, administrators and officials alike.
"In Wembley we have a world-class stadium and in St George's Park we have the place to inspire world-class performance."
The League Managers Association will make the new centre, which will be sponsored by Umbro, its headquarters.
Sheepshanks continued: "We feel it is time the NFC had a new identity and we hope this name St George's Park will reflect the sense of national pride that will accompany the centre when it is open.
"Every single leading European country has a national football centre – even Bulgaria – and we are the only leading European country that does not. Every country that has won the World Cup has one apart from us.
"[But] this cannot be a white elephant and there is a robust business plan that makes this viable and sustainable.”
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