The Football Association is going ahead with a £105m national football centre at Burton-upon-Trent. The long-planned project, which the FA called a ‘University of Football’, has been hobbled by financial problems at the governing body. Work will begin in January and will be completed in 2012. The emphasis will now be on developing coaches rather than the original intention of acting as a finishing school for young players.
The Football Association is going ahead with a £105m national football centre at Burton-upon-Trent. The long-planned project, which the FA called a ‘University of Football’, has been hobbled by financial problems at the governing body. Work will begin in January and will be completed in 2012. The emphasis will now be on developing coaches rather than the original intention of acting as a finishing school for young players.
The cost of the project was originally put at £40m, but the FA has agreed to set aside £105m to underwrite the project at a time when its finances are stretched. The alternative was to write off the £30m already spent on the NFC. £18m will have to be found to start work on the buildings (the pitches are already in place) which will mean cuts in other parts of the FA’s work. This could affect grass roots football.