This was the The Board’s first opportunity to visit Burton since The FA took full control of the site from the contractors in May.

In its present state, the site has eight prepared grass pitches and two synthetic pitches in addition to floodlights and other facilities.

The Board took the opportunity to look at the various options available to The FA and at the meeting considered and debated these.

It was decided to defer any decision on the future of the National Football Centre until the spring of 2005 to allow the consideration of additional possibilities highlighted in the meeting.

The recruitment of a Chief Executive Officer for The FA was also a key point of discussion at today’s meeting.

The Nominations Committee of Geoff Thompson, David Dein, Ray Kiddell and Peter Heard considered all applications before agreeing a short list of ten candidates to be interviewed.

It is planned that up to three candidates from those interviewed will be invited to meet with The FA Board at the end of November.

Further discussions also took place today with regard to the proposed structural review. The FA Chairman – Geoff Thompson will recommend a number of potential candidates to be considered for the role of Independent Chairman at the next Board meeting.