Wembley for Sale

[Galfon]

a snip at £900m - likely buyer is Fulham billionaire owner Shahid Khan.
It's comforting to know the proceeds of the sale will filter down to grass-roots of the game, thus recycling state and lottery funding to the community base, and the National team can be imaginitive in finding somewhere to play.

[morepork]

Make it a nice round 100, and throw in the NHS as well.

[Digby]

So we spent a fortune on a stadium we didn't need in a daft location supposedly on the off chance we'd win a WC and needed a stadium for the final, and now we've got it we're selling it off to someone who presumably thinks thy can make money out of it and the F.A.? I think even the RFU would stand back and applaud such bad planning rolled out across the decades.

[kk67]

Make it a nice round 100, and throw in the NHS as well.

I was planning a sarcy bit of crap but now I'm filling up. They'll buy everything.

[Rich]

I have several thoughts on this.

Firstly I think £900 million is too cheap. It should be something like £1.5 billion

Secondly it's not the FA's to sell - not without giving back all the public money that went into building it.

Thirdly, I don't think the FA needed to build it in the first place. Yes I think England needs a national stadium but it doesn't need to be in the middle of London.
Why couldn't the FA and RFU get together and build one jointly.

The FA only really needs Wembley for two or three games a season - unlike rugby, English football clubs are building bigger and better stadia. England games should be rotated around the country.
So in actual fact, the FA doesn't need Wembley at all - except perhaps for the FA Cup final.

So FA, sell Wembley but sell it for a decent price, give all public money back, negotiate to keep playing the FA Cup final there.


Such a pity the FA and RFU didn't sell Wembley and Twickenham for the real estate value and build a joint national stadium somewhere along the M25.

[Galfon]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44294032

I think Mr Glenn is a wee bit patronising and misunderstanding with his view of the reaction to the potential sale.
Public and charity funding was supported because followers of the game feel an attachment to their National team and pride in the National stadium.
The same cannot be said of 3-G pitches, local community coaching ventures or similar ammentities.
The fill-yer-boots potential of all of this through the local FA affiliated networks is huge -
A stadium is a stadium is a stadium.
(my personal and emotional take.. )

[kk67]

I always get the Neville boys confused. I'm not sure it matters.
One of them was sticking it up the arse of the select committee in a particularly satisfying way.


Fecking corporate psychopaths are everywhere. It's one of the joys of life to watch people who you've previously considered to be nutters, suddenly pointing at other people and saying:
'They're nutters..'

Welcome. (golf clap).

[Galfon]

It's Gary the older one.
He's right of course, and they know it. It's a con really.


He has some credibilty beyond the game with involvement in recent interesting projects such as Hotel Football, Salford City FC, his underground Hobbit home and the Manchester city centre St Michael's skyscraper proposal.

[kk67]

I keep hoping that the next scandal will result in some measure of corporate corruption being investigated.
It gets investigated and then it goes back to the same filth.

[Galfon]

The cloud of opportunity on the horizon becomes more visible.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45665700

[Galfon]

high stakes - might get dirty..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45800531

[canta_brian]

According to Wikipedia Wembley cost £798 million (£1.09 billion in today’s money) to build and they are considering an offer of £600? Are they fucking retarded?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wembley_Stadium

[Digby]

Yes, yes they're retarded. it's a requirement for any significant sports administration role

[Galfon]

Mr Khan shows more sense than some of the other players in this.
'Football Foundation Charity' ?...where do they think averyone who ever played the game 'simply for the love of doing so' actually did it....yes, anywhere and everywhere.!
( cue 4 Yorkshiremen sketch...).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45893325

[twitchy]

£600?

I should put an offer in.