FA statement: National Football Centre

Watmore said: "The FA is continuing to develop a business plan for the National Football Centre. We now have a very experienced group of people managing the plans for the NFC, headed by David Sheepshanks.

"It has not been put on a backburner. There remains a strong commitment within the organisation to get the Centre up and running as we believe it will be of great benefit to English football and there is a great will to take this forward. However, it has to be financially sustainable.

"We're working hard to develop a robust business case detailing precisely how the Centre will operate, how much it will cost and how, together with commercial partners, it will be funded. This will be presented to The FA Board at the end of this month for further discussion."