St George's Park means players have no excuses - Steven Gerrard

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Steven Gerrard says England's players can have no excuses if they fail to fulfil their potential following the opening of St George's Park.

The Football Association's £105m centre of excellence will house England's 24 teams from junior to senior level.

"We've got the best stadium in the world and now we have got the best training facilities," said Gerrard.

"We are taking away all of the excuses the players may try to use in the future because this place is awesome."

St George's Park, which was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on Tuesday, includes 11 outdoor pitches, five of which are floodlit and have under-soil heating, a full-size indoor 3G artificial pitch and an altitude chamber to mimic a variety of playing conditions.

England are training at the Staffordshire base as they prepare for World Cup qualifiers against San Marino at Wembley on 12 October before a trip to play in Poland on 16 October.

"The place has blown me away," said England captain Gerrard. "It's my first time here and all the lads are buzzing to be here.

"We are really lucky to have facilities like this. It's obviously a long-term plan and can hopefully bring success to the national teams."

England striker Wayne Rooney echoed Gerrard's enthusiasm for the facilities at St George's Park and the impact they can gave.

"It's a great platform for the younger generation and for young coaches as well," said the Manchester United star.

"I think it's going benefit the whole of England, especially the younger players."

Manager Roy Hodgson also lauded St George's Park, although he issued a note of caution that "facilities in themselves don't make you a better football team".

He added: "What makes you a better football team is the work that you do within that facility, so here we have the chance. Players will be really happy to come here and work here.

"I think we have to forget the past, we can't win a World Cup yesterday.

"I'm rather hoping that the work that will go on here and the amount of effort we'll put in here to help produce better players and coaches will lead us one day to that World Cup victory."

FA director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking highlighted the importance of coaching and believes St George's Park will inspire England's players.

"The under-16 group came here and they are desperate to come back because it's an aspirational place," said Brooking.

"The senior lads thought it was magnificent. I think they were pleasantly surprised at the quality of it, but the key thing is the coaching.

"The aim is to give the coaches the knowledge to help younger players - right from five years of age up - to get a little bit better, to encourage them, to enthuse them and get comfortable with the ball."

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96 comments

  • Horrendous headline - sun-style reporting by the bbc yet again.

    He said it tongue in cheek, the headline completely obscures that.

    When the NoW shut down did all the journos come and work for the bbc?

  • Quality n Attitude that counts....not just a superb training ground!

  • " 11 outdoor pitches, five of which are floodlit and have under-soil heating"
    are these the fields the youngsters will be taught how to hoof the ball up the field? where are the smaller fields to teach the young players about control, tehcnique, finesse and skill?

  • It's a start, but personally i would of liked to of seen smaller pitches. Little kids on big pitches are not going to have to worry about passing in tight spaces with no time to think about it.

    We need smaller pitches were kids can perfect passing under pressure.

  • since when have englands players ever had any genuine excuses?? they would be much more respected if after their inevitable defeat in a competition they said they are not as good as the press.supporters think they are. just be honeat with yourselves,you pretentious lot.

  • If you know football and know the character of Stevie Gerrard, you will know he would have no doubt said this in a way to inspire the team. I will have to for once back him for this as he is right, England have made excuses for too long and we need our young cubs to step and become lions once more.

  • Gerrard telling other players they will have "no excuses" for repeated failures for England!? How ironic.

  • You could find 11 brazilian kids off the streets of Rio & they'd beat a bunch of english kids from a fancy training ground.
    It's all about ball control. So many poorer nations with no facilities keep the ball better than England. We'll see what talent is around in 10 years!

  • How many world cups do we have to win before it gets boring?

  • Finally we get to see what the FA have been fining Fergie and Wenger for so often.

  • 54.gorgeousgaz

    Name a better current English goalscorer than Rooney then?

    Considering the fact he didnt have a 'great' season last year but was still second top scorer in the EPL (top english goal scorer) I cant really see where u get the opinion that there is better out there?

    Agreed on Carrol mind!

  • 44.ronnieboy1

    Well done *round of applause*

    Not that your point has anything to do with what I said, still no one is holding your life in their hands and making you talk about/watch the game are they!

    As i said if u feel as strongly as ur first comment suggests why bother reading the articles?!

  • @ comment no:5 You are very much spot on.. Small piches needed with a techincal coach who purely teaches one touch footy..NO HOOOOOOFING!

  • It's impossible to buy passion. In football, playing for your nation is not as important as playing for your club.
    Imagine Middlesex v Surrey being bigger than the Ashes?!! Or a Saracens v Bath being bigger than a Lions tour of NZ or Aust.

  • I wonder if the facilities are able to accommodate a band and help players acclimatise to playing under those conditions...

  • As England Captain, He has to be seen to support the place. An yes, it may well help improve some players. It just annoys me that they say this will help grassroots football. I seriously doubt it. It will help the elite players but as for the kids at 5-8yrs old when they should be learning skills from better coaches, I don't see how they will benefit.

  • I'm glad the base is in Staffordshire. At least something for once isn't in either London or the South East.

  • This is long overdue but will provide far better facilities and hopefully we'll see the benfits.
    However it's only one part of a broader vision but what we really need is a more visionary Coach.
    Bernstein had the opportunity after Capello resigned to find a young, inspirational Coach but we eneded up with a shortlist of one.
    Hodgson is a decent man but he's not the charasmatic leader we need.

  • I respect Gerrard because he has always given 100% for both club and country, very good player (not great), excellent role model. But I have to say that this wasn't a great thing to say to the media. He knows our problems are much more deep routed than not having this multi million pound facility. There are good reasons why England continually fail, excuses are unnecessary and unhelpful

  • So that's why Brazil, Italy and Germany have got 12 world cups between them and we've only got one. Dream on England!

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