CHESHIRE FA is not ready yet to reveal where a proposed £70m football hub for the town will be built.

However it hopes to be soon.

"We're completing due diligence and that takes time," said Stuart Manifould, business and operations manager at the county governing body, based at Moss Farm in Northwich.

"There are discussions to have and paperwork to sign before we can make an announcement."

Cheshire FA unveiled plans last May for new facilities it claims will attract international attention but officials could not confirm an exact location.

Their aspiration is for it to be 'within the Northwich boundary' but that has never been guaranteed.

A specification for the Vision 20/20 project, as it has been branded, includes a 3,000 capacity stadium, six grass pitches, three 3G ones, two Premier League-standard hybrid playing surfaces and a five-star hotel.

It is anticipated that the facility, which Manifould has said will take up more acres than St George's Park, will be used as an overnight base for professional teams playing matches in the area given Manchester and Liverpool are both only a short drive away.

He told members at 1874 Northwich's annual meeting in November that a list of potential plots was as long as half-a-dozen but had been reduced to two.

"The challenge is to find somewhere big enough," he said.

The North West Counties League top-flight club's board confirmed the same evening they had been in discussions with Cheshire FA to become long-term tenants at the site, which the governing body hopes will be open in 2021.

They would host opponents there and train on one of the pitches nearby.

The two parties have signed a memorandum of understanding that would become a formal arrangement once building is complete.

"It's not a given but we've taken the first steps," said Alex Dickinson.

1874's supporters will be asked to give their blessing once an announcement is made on exactly where Vision 20/20 will be.