I promise Wembley will still be cradle of English football
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SHAHID KHAN, THE MAN BEHIND THE DEAL
‘We are in due diligence ... it should take maybe two months’ ‘I want visiting this stadium to be on every fan’s bucket list’ ‘If Chelsea wanted to use it, we would welcome them’
Shahid Khan hopes to be the owner of Wembley Stadium before the start of next season and promises to preserve and nourish its role at the heart of English football.
Khan told Sportsmail he will encourage Chelsea to come and lodge with him in north London while they rebuild Stamford Bridge. The american billionaire also owns Fulham, presently chasing promotion back to the Premier League, but has no intention of prising them from their beloved home at Craven Cottage.
he does, however, have ambitious plans for Wembley and these include turning it into a permanent base for nFL games in London if he secures the purchase from the Football association.
The Fa have confirmed that England will also go out on the road but Khan told Sportsmail that is not at his insistence.
‘i want it to become the greatest stadium on the planet,’ said Khan, 67, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, an american football team at the forefront of the nFL expansion into Europe.
‘i want it to be a must on any bucket list. i want it to be open to different sports and i want fans to go there to enjoy the sport but also to enjoy the venue. i have been to Wembley many times and it is an iconic and special place.
‘ Even when the Jags were terrible, we were winning in London and when i asked the players for a reason they told me it was the vibe and the energy inside the venue. it gave me an even greater appreciation of what a positive home stadium it could be.’
Khan believes his £950million proposal will offer the Fa an opportunity to boost investment in grass roots football while retaining its key revenue streams from the England matches.
‘Look at the Fa mission,’ he said. ‘Look at what they’re keen to do, which is protect the England team, and look at what we are keen to do, which is secure a place to play nFL games in the future, and it is very synergistic.
‘it’s really about as win-win as you can have.
‘The Fa keep their key assets, the revenue from the England games and they have a pool of money to put into grassroots football.’
Khan is going through the duediligence process but is confident he can close the deal ‘relatively soon’, possibly even within ‘two or three months’.
he could be in charge by the time the Fa Community Shield launches another football season in august with champions Manchester City against the Fa Cup winners under the giant arch.
‘ Everything in the diary will remain part of the deal, including the games at Euro 2020,’ said Khan. ‘That’s the easy part. Our goal is to add more events, more nFL, more concerts and other entertainment.
‘Wembley was private in the past and look at the multitude of events that were held there.
‘Maybe not Evel Knievel, but we want to invest in the stadium and make it state-of-the-art.
‘Whoever the owner is will have to invest in the stadium to keep it fresh and relevant.’
Khan’s quest to stay on the cutting-edge in the world of sports stadiums led him to install the world’s largest scoreboards at EverBank Field in Jacksonville.
The nFL fixtures in London have proved enormously successful in recent years. ‘Seventy per cent of the fans come from outside the Greater London area,’ said Khan. ‘This adds commercial value to the area.’
his move will inevitably be seen as another step towards a permanent nFL franchise in the city. ‘it is too early for that,’ said Khan. ‘But certainly for the nFL to have more presence in London you have to have a home and a stadium solution.
‘This certainly could be a solution. it has to be a stand-alone stadium like Wembley. You could not share with a Premier League club.’
This, however, does not rule out opening the doors to a club in search of a temporary ground. Tottenham have spent this season playing at Wembley as their new stadium was completed at White hart Lane and Chelsea will be searching for a base for up to four years from 2021 as part of their plan to demolish and rebuild Stamford Bridge.
‘Quite the contrary,’ said Khan. ‘Chelsea are talking about maybe building a stadium and we will welcome them because we will be looking for more creative ways to multi use.
‘We will absolutely be looking into things like that. We want to support English football and we want to support Wembley.
‘Wembley will remain as the cradle of English football, only supplemented by the nFL and other events.’
Fulham fans can be reassured their club will not be moved from its traditional home on the banks of the River Thames.
‘Craven Cottage is a jewel and home to Fulham FC since 1896,’ said Khan, who bought the west London club in 2013.
‘Even before my time there was a major effort to redevelop the Riverside Stand and last month we got the permission to rebuild the stand, including a River Walk and residential units and restaurants and bars.
‘We are looking at construction next May and that has nothing to do with it.’