If the FA really does flog off Wembley Stadium to some American football team owner, well, goodbye and good riddance in my humble opinion. The money raised, some £800 million, could save, improve and ultimately revolutionise grassroots football. But I’d go much, much further than that: the FA could take much of its “product” away.
I am probably in a small minority here but I cannot stand the new Wembley Stadium. Granted the old one was somewhat dilapidated and tired, yet it still felt like a decent football ground. The new one, all sanitised, with priority given to the corporate piggery of ‘Club Wembley’ with it’s ‘No riff-raff’ signs, has a weird atmosphere where everyone seems to be mumbling in unison. The refreshments are charged at maximum rip off rate and of course Wembley is situated in Wembley, which is a crap place for a football ground unless you live in London.
When Wembley was being modernised, the national team toured the land, bringing the national team closer to football fans up and down the land and the FA Cup final was moved to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, or whatever it’s called these days. For me, the Millennium is different class to Wembley. It’s just a pity it’s not in England.
One of the reasons the FA Cup has been ruined – there are quite a few, to be fair – is the ludicrous idea we have to play semi-finals there, as well as the final. The reason the FA gave was because they had to because they owed so much money for the actual rebuilding of Wembley, they needed the revenue. Not any more.
Yes, have the FA Cup final at Wembley, some internationals, play off finals, perhaps, but who really cares if our national game becomes more national and we leave the new owners to concentrate on having an American football team there?
What a great opportunity this is for English football to step into the future. Don’t expect the FA to take it.
