Sydney FC has hit back at fans who say it lacks a long-term strategy by revealing plans to build a centre of excellence, providing a path from the grassroots through to the A-League.

Following a public backlash and a fan revolt two weeks ago, chairman Scott Barlow issued an open letter to the club's members on Thursday night outlining its long-term goals, headlined by a state-of-the-art training centre for youth development from the under 12s upwards.

The board of directors held a fan forum on Tuesday night to discuss the direction of the club and will state their desire to follow the lead of the likes of Central Coast Mariners and AFL club GWS Giants in building an elite training centre, which could be established as early as 2016. Sydney is weighing up several different locations to build the centre of excellence and Barlow confirmed it is at the stage of negotiating with councils.

''We also have plans to invest in the coming years in the creation of a football centre of excellence to house our elite junior teams and our community programs,'' he said in the letter.