Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the League Managers Association (LMA), which represents football managers, has said that the FA's failure to properly fund the proposed National Football Centre (NFC) at Burton is threatening the future of the sport in England.

 

He said: "We have heard a lot about the 2018 bid and seen a lot of advertising for the senior positions for that project - I would like to know who is running the National Football Centre and what investment in personnel is taking place."

 

The £25 million NFC is supposed to provide the FA with a base to house the departments for medical and exercise science, coaching, video analysis and education, as well using it as a training and preparation base for England teams.

 

The England senior team would use it as their training base before away games.

 

The NFC was first mooted in 2001, when it was hailed as England's answer to France's Clairefontaine academy, widely credited for that country's success in winning the 1998 World Cup.

But it was mothballed in 2004 as the costs of rebuilding Wembley Stadium spiralled out of control.

 

The FA claim that they still plan to push ahead with the NFC but now senior figures fear that the 2018 World Cup bid will take priority.

 

Bevan said: "The important thing has to be the development of young players and young coaches in this country - to have a base at which people can focus and co-ordinate activity - this should have happened years ago and sooner it is up and running the better."

 

Lord Triesman, the chairman of the FA, has claimed that they are still fully committed to the idea.

 

He said: "After being appointed FA chairman earlier this year, I made it clear football development is a key priority.

 

"This was stated very publicly in our vision for the game which was published in May."