TV viewers were able to get an early taste of St. George’s Park on Friday morning when BBC Breakfast went behind the scenes at The FA’s brand new National Football Centre. 

Sir Trevor Brooking took BBC presenter Mike Bushell on a guided tour of the 330-acre facility on the outskirts of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, with both the elite pitch and the full-size indoor 'Sir Alf Ramsey Pitch' featuring prominently.

"The beauty of this [Sir Alf Ramsey Pitch] is that you can use it all year round,which is pretty important at the moment with the summer we're having," said Sir Trevor, The FA's Director of Football Development, who now splits his time between SGP - where his department is based - and the Governing Body's HQ at Wembley Stadium.

"We can also put all the cameras up so you can look down and view all the sessions, describe and talk through them."

The former West Ham United midfielder also gave Bushell a look at the indoor running track, that will help analyse players.

"The sports science will play a bigger part. They'll be able to look at the running gait. Sometimes you have someone who throws their shoulders, a bit ungainly, so they are losing some of their natural speed an pace."

He added: "I'd like to think in the next five or ten years we'll definitly improve the quality and depth of players. What we haven't had in the past is quality coaches working in those two age groups, 5-11 and 12-16, and if we can get the coaches working there then the 16-year-old who signs on full-time I think will be better.

"This gives us a wonderful opportunity to do that."  

If you missed the BBC Breakfast feature at SGP, you can watch it again online here