Football Focus at St. George's Park

  • Saturday,
St George's Park elite pitch St George's Park elite pitch
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Martin Keown takes BBC show behind the scenes at the new National Football Centre.

Former England and Arsenal defender Martin Keown took the BBC cameras on a tour of St. George's Park.

Keown, presenter on Football Focus, was greeted at the new 330-acre National Football Centre in Staffordshire by Managing Director Julie Harrington.

He was given an exclusive insight to the world class facilities, as England's Under-21s team recovered from their 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan on Thursday night.

After scoring a goal in the impressive full-size indoor 3G pitch, named after World Cup-winning manager Sir Alf Ramsey, Keown then met up with Stuart Pearce on the elite pitch, which is an exact replica of Wembley Stadium.

Pearce's, whose team are preparing at St. George's Park for their final Euro 2013 Qualifier against Norway in Chesterfield on Monday, has been involved in the planning of the centre since he arrived at The FA five years ago.

He told Keown: "It's not just a building that will generate better coaches and better players, it's a multitude of things. The release of players, the education of and the partnership between clubs and country."

Click here to watch Keown's behind the scenes film, which was shown on Football Focus on Saturday.

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