The Football Association has refused to be drawn on speculation that work on the �70m National Football Centre (NFC) may be halted as part of a drastic FA cost cutting exercise.

About �20m has already been spent on the site at Burton-on-Trent, with pitches already laid and work on the buildings under way.

But a meeting of the FA executive board on Tuesday is believed to include talks on money saving measures throughout the organisation.

The financial security of the FA has been thrown into doubt since Adam Crozier resigned as chief executive last month.

Howard Wilkinson, who was behind the idea to build the NFC in his time as FA technical director, admitted his disappointment at the prospect of a delay in its opening.

"If this is true it would be a very, very sad day for English football," Wilkinson told the Daily Mail.

"When I left the FA last month it was on budget, on schedule and in the hands of a very capable team."

FA spokesman Adrian Bevington insisted no cost-cutting exercises had yet been announced.

"There is no FA comment in any of Tuesday's reports and that tells its own story," he told BBC Sport Online.

"It is no secret that the board are meeting on Tuesday and anything to come out of that will be announced if appropriate."

But with the FA seemingly keen to tighten its belt, the Burton project may be the obvious first target.

The only FA scheme carrying a similarly high financial commitment is the Wembley rebuilding project.

It would be virtually impossible to put that plan on hold after the very public heartaches the Association has suffered surrounding Wembley in recent years.

But with more of their own money earmarked for the the project - about �100m - the FA needs to ease commitments elsewhere.

The NFC is due to open in 2004 and will include education facilities and a sports medicine centre.

The centre has been modelled on the French academy at Clairefontaine and the FA's aim is to give English football a training headquarters to rival the world.