by Our Sports Desk

THE Football Association will try to improve England’s national team by pumping £260 million into grassroots football over the next four years, it was announced yesterday.

At the launch of the FA’s National Game Strategy for Participation and Development, chief executive Martin Glenn said that England are too far behind other countries in terms of playable pitches and coaches.

“When we compared ourselves to our competitors, there were two things that stood out — there were fewer coaches than Germany and that we have far fewer pitches than countries in the same climate band,” Glenn added.

“Too many games are played when pitches are very muddy so they favour stronger kids and maybe not the skillful ones so that tends to inhibit the development of skills.

“There are challenges facing grassroots football both in terms of facilities and coaching. Today we have set out how we will tackle the challenges head on.”

With the number of English players in the top flight decreasing, there is more need than ever to invest money at grassroots level to try to ensure the next generation of stars make it to the top.

The FA has therefore decided to invest a total of £260m at the base of the English game from 2015-2019.

The FA is also particularly keen to encourage grassroots development of the women’s game in light of England’s success at the World Cup in Canada this summer and disabled football too.

“I have spoken to a number of counties and leagues and they say they have been inundated with girls coming to them and saying they want to play football,” said former England international Kelly Simmons, who is now the FA’s Director for Participation and Development.

“That’s really heartening. The interest has never been higher.

“We have to capture those inspirational moments and bring them into clubs.”