FORMER Burnley star Paul Fletcher is spearheading a multi-million-pound bid to bring the new national football stadium to Birmingham.

The Rossendale-based ex-striker turned stadium expert is part of the team attempting to snatch the prize away from its spiritual home at Wembley.

The group wants to build the new stadium next to the National Exhibition Centre.

And, according to Paul, the move to the Midlands can only be good news for East Lancashire sports fans.

"I am convinced that Birmingham is the best option for all concerned," he said.

"But from the perspective of the football fan, there is no realistic alternative.

"Anyone who has travelled from East Lancashire to Wembley will know only too well the transport problems. In terms of accessibility, the traffic in London is just getting worse and worse.

"Birmingham's bid to build the national stadium is compelling. It would be at the heart of Britain's road, rail and air connections and would give fans from across the country easy access to see top events."

Paul recognises that his new stance on Birmingham is a controversial one. In a twist like his Biblical namesake's Damascene conversion, he has switched from the Wembley bid to the Midlands alternative. He was head-hunted by the Football Association in 1999 to become the commercial director of the new £500 million Wembley National Stadium.

After 18 months, he controversially walked away from his five-year contract.

At the time he made the anodyne comment that he wanted to "spend more time with his wife and family in the Lancashire sunshine."

He is still reluctant to discuss the reasons for his departure, but he is at pains to stress there was no bust-up with the combative Chelsea chairman Ken Bates.

"That was certainly not the case," he said. " I used to have breakfast with him at least once a month and I found him an inspiration.

"I just wish he could have spent more time on the Wembley project."

Paul believes he agreed to become part of the Wembley bid for all the right reasons, but said that the capital's bid was now carrying "too much baggage."

He is now fully behind the Birmingham bid and feels it is in football's best interests. "The NEC is an integral part of the bid and they have been operating very successfully for the past 26 years," he said.

"They understand how to move massive crowds by road and rail and all the necessary infrastructure will be in place by the time our stadium would be built."

Paul first became involved with the Birmingham bid when he was approached by Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis in June this year. "It was a chance meeting," he recalled. "He told me that the Wembley bid was in a state of not knowing where it was going and asked me to help him with the opposing Birmingham bid.

"The more I have become involved, the more convinced I am that it is the right bid."

Paul's main role in the project is as a commercial adviser, looking at the corporate hospitality aspects of the proposed new 85,000-seater stadium.

"These days, new stadia are funded on the back of the corporate market," he said.

"It is all right for Roy Keane to go on about the prawn sandwich brigade, but they are the ones who effectively pay to ensure that ordinary fans get tickets at the right price.

"Any new stadium anywhere in the world will have a large corporate section. But with a stadium offering 85,000 seats, there will be plenty of seats at the right price for ordinary fans."

PAUL FLETCHER is one of a rare breed of ex-football stars to make the transition from the team sheet to the balance sheet. From being an idol of the Turf Moor terraces, he has forged a career as one of Europe's leading experts on sports stadia and is one of the most popular after-dinner speakers on the circuit.

Paul joined his home-town Bolton Wanderers as an apprentice and became one of the country's most expensive players when he joined Burnley in 1970 for a then club record fee of £66,000.

He quickly became a favourite at the Turf and in a career with the club that spanned 350 games, he scored almost 100 goals including an overhead kick from 18 yards in a 4-1 away win at Leeds that was judged the goal of the 70s.

After gaining four Under 23 international caps, he was selected in Don Revie's full England squad, but a serious knee injury put paid to his senior call up. A second serious leg injury forced him to retire at 32. His commercial career in football began at the infamous and ill-fated Colne Dynamos FC in the late 1980s. His first top job came when he was appointed chief executive at Huddersfield Town where, over a six -year period, he masterminded the construction of the award-winning Alfred McAlpine Stadium.

In 1996, he returned to Bolton as chief executive to oversee the new £40m Reebok Stadium. After two years, he was invited by the FA to become the commercial director of the new £500 million Wembley National Stadium. In a much-publicised fall out, he walked away from the project last year.

Over the past decade, Paul has supplemented his 'day job' as one of the most sought-after speakers in the country. In 1999, to celebrate his 1,000th sporting dinner speech, he wrote a best-selling book 'The Sportsman's Dinner Business'.

Paul is famous for his dry sense of humour and in his own promotional material, he includes a reference from comedian Bernard Manning: "He's about as funny as woodworm in a cripple's crutch. My advice - don't give up your day job!"