The Centre of Excellence is open, next stop, the World Cup

The ultimate aim for the England men is to win the World Cup and the FA believes that this new centre of excellence will go a long way towards helping them achieve that goal. There are obvious benefits to the move and it will be interesting to see if the new facilities start to have a positive impact over the next few years.

The most obvious benefit is that everyone is in the same place at the same time, living and training together. This will have positives on two fronts. Firstly, it will help the side to become more consistent as they will be training in the same place as opposed to darting from one training ground to the next. It will also go a long way to helping with team bonding as this is the place England may have to pull together after bad home results.

The entire site cost £105 million to build so for that the FA has insisted on the best facilities available. This is positive because there are going to be a few injuries popping up over the coming weeks and months that would otherwise keep one of England’s better players out of action. The modern facilities mean that these injuries can be treated instantly, with no equipment or facilities spared which will ultimately get that player back faster.

“We have to get more players through who can be full England internationals and this is where it will happen. So much work has gone into this for so long and to see it now is fantastic,” said FA Chairman David Bernstein.

This should also help younger players coming through the ranks to become better players. They will be in and around more experienced individuals who will be able to offer them guidance and assistance on their game which will be beneficial for years to come. It provides extra learning curves for younger players as they will have the chance to train alongside and even play against the senior team.

The centre also includes facilities which will allow England bosses to create similar conditions that England will experience when they play away from home in foreign countries. This includes an altitude chamber which will re-create the effects of playing football at higher altitude where the air is thinner and players ultimately have to work hard in terms of their cardiovascular fitness.

For years people have been commenting on how far behind the likes of Spain, France and the Netherlands England are when it comes to technical quality and the level of facilities that the side has access to. This is going to go a long way to putting England on a par with those other sides and then it’s up to the players and coaches to push the side on to glory.

Lewis Doe

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Lewis Doe is a freelance writer and editor who seeks to bring you the biggest, smallest and most interesting stories from the football world. Lewis has previously written for some of the biggest football news and opinion sites in the world including FootballFanCast and Goal.com International. Lewis is also experienced writing in the betting industry and aims to deliver his stories with up to date factual and statistical information. He hopes to sum up stories for the site and provide an angle on the issue moving forward.