David Sheepshanks has defended the use of the Football Association's national training base at St George's Park by insisting it is creating a club-type environment for the England national team.
The £105million Burton venue, which recently celebrated its second anniversary, has found itself in the firing line for Roy Hodgson's England squad failing to use the facilities ahead of some Wembley internationals.
But Sheepshanks, the chairman of St George's Park, said that criticism was unjust and the centre had taken huge strides in developing the stars of tomorrow, coaching male and female players at all levels, educating coaches and establishing itself as the hub of the professional game in England.
"The plaudits have far outweighed the criticism and that's not me sitting here complacently in any way," Sheepshanks told Press Association Sport.
"The only criticism that I've read it's not being used by the England senior team as much as people thought it would be, but it is being used by the England team.
"Yes, if a game is going to be played at Wembley on a Tuesday or a Wednesday night and they've been called up on the Monday there's no point being called up to St George's Park for 24 hours and going down to London again.
"But when the international weeks are generally double-headers it logistically works really well.
"After the last home match the players went straight up to St George's Park for five days and it is creating that club-type environment and far more structured build-up for the England set-up."
Sheepshanks also said people should look further than the England senior team to gauge the success of St George's Park and stressed that it was a long-term venture which could not be correctly judged after only being in existence for two years.
"There are 26 England teams playing with Three Lions and we've had over 100 England training camps at St George's Park," Sheepshanks said at the DohaGOALS 2014 forum in Qatar.
"Of course, the England senior team is what everyone really focuses on but there's all the women's teams - and the senior side are off to the World Cup in Canada next year - and development teams, men and women's, cerebral palsy team, blind team, partially sighted team and futsal team.
"I know the long-term (work) never makes headlines but I have to make it very clear that this is long-term, even though we're already seeing the benefits.
"People say there are no young English players and I wouldn't say they're abounding, but suddenly you've got the Sterlings, the Barkleys, the Berahinos and many more who are all appearing and showing how good young English players can be.
"It's vital we do that and St George's Park can create both the haven for their development and the catalyst for what's best for them.
"The bigger point is the subject of coach education and the new standards of coaches who want to engage young people to be the best they can be."
Sheepshanks also believes St George's Park is helping provide unity in the domestic game by working with the key bodies in English football.
"We have arguably the best league in the world and it's up to us to defend our England teams in that environment," Sheepshanks said.
"The only way we are going to do that is to work collaboratively and I'm really pleased that there's a very strong relationship between the FA at St George's Park and the Premier League, the Football League, the League Managers' Association and the Professional Footballers' Association.
"Referees also train there regularly and we are creating a hub where all parts of the game are coming together to build relationships and a better understanding of each other's agendas for the betterment of the game as a whole.
"That's something we should be proud of and I feel we've provided the platform for England and the benefits will accrue in years to come."
Sheepshanks was speaking in Doha in his role as chairman of the UK Community Foundations charity, which encourages individuals and groups invest in their local communities, and he says both football clubs and footballers have a big part to play in the organisation.
"We've got a lot of footballers who get paid an awful lot of money and some of them are incredibly generous," Sheepshanks said.
"Jamie Carragher has put over a million pounds into a fund for Merseyside and others like Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Didier Drogba in Africa and Steven Naismith at Everton, who puts money back into Glasgow, do great work.
"Hopefully we can work very hard with the stars of tomorrow to encourage them to support the roots of where they come from and have that connectivity with their areas."
Source: PA
