IT has been an extremely long, drawn out process, but now that the National Football Centre has finally been given the go-ahead it is worth flagging up the role Wearside has played.

That may seem a strange thing to say for a complex that will reside in Burton-on-Trent, but Sunderland Association Football Club have played their part.

Not only has former Sunderland chairman Sir Bob Murray been a key player in pressing ahead with the aptly named St George’s Park, the designers are the very same that designed the club’s Academy of Light training complex.

The 350-acre site in Staffordshire might eventually look considerably different from that in Cleadon, South Tyneside, but the high standard of the Academy of Light helped convince the National Football Centre board that Redbox design group should be in control.

Redbox are charged with making sure that when the NFC opens its doors it meets all the requirements they intend. They hope it will be accessible, aspirational, educational, sustainable, symbolic, stimulating and rewarding.

Board chairman David Sheepshanks has been the driving force behind it in the last couple of years and when it opens in the middle of next year it is expected to have 12 pitches, a coaching centre, extensive sports medicine, sports science and research facilities.

It will be second to none and should help provide the foundations for thousands of youngsters to emerge with higher quality of talent, something the Clairefontaine camp has been producing in France for decades.

Sir Bob has been instrumental in the appointing of Redbox since sitting as the development’s project director since 2008 and celebrated the passing of planning permission last May.

Having left the legacy of the Academy of Light and Stadium of Light behind, Murray should also be in a position by the end of next year to reflect on having a vital part to play in the National Football Centre. It won’t be a bad hat-trick at all.

THERE might have been just under 6,500 at Broadhall Way last Saturday to witness Newcastle United’s shock exit in the FA Cup to Stevenage, but it very nearly went unreported.

The ESPN cameras made it a pretty profitable day on all fronts for the League Two club, but all the publicity that went with it in the aftermath could have been lost.

Stevenage are new to the Football League, having won promotion last season, so their press box is not the biggest. When a Premier League club are in town, though, the demand can be high from the media to come in the hope of witnessing a shock.

With all 28 seats set aside for the press taken up, chairman Phil Wallace was reluctant to find space around the stadium for around 30 more requests for press privileges.

He would have preferred, clearly, for the 30 seats to have been taken up by paying members of the public rather than many members of the national media.

In the end he was convinced to back down. It was good that he did, otherwise Stevenage’s triumph over Newcastle might not have received the attention it deserved.

THE British flat racing season might have finished last autumn, but one of the region’s leading trainers is hoping to continue racking up the winners abroad.

Michael Dods, who is based at Denton, near Piercebridge, has sent some of his leading horses to Dubai to compete for some lucrative prizes in the Gulf state.

The likes of Barney McGrew, Sweet Lightning and Tiger Reigns, who all enjoyed successful campaigns last year, flew out of England at the turn of the year.

They have spent the last week getting acclimatised, and are expected to start racing before the end of the month.

They could spend up to four weeks in Dubai, before returning to England ahead of the start of the new flat campaign.

Dods is hoping for some big runs, but if nothing else, the Arabian adventure should ensure his string are ready to hit the ground running in the spring.