SAVE OUR STADIUM
Fury over £800m bid for Wembley
FA BOSSES were last night in the firing line after plotting to sell Wembley.
Fulham owner Shahid Khan, who also owns NFL side Jacksonville Jaguars, has launched a bid of around £800m to buy the national stadium outright.
The sale could lead to an NFL side making the stadium its home and England playing some internationals on the road.
FA chiefs see the one-off windfall as a huge opportunity to pump much-needed cash into grassroots football. But the
THE Football Association has scored its fair share of own goals over the years, but selling Wembley would top the lot.
It’s unthinkable that the governing body of football in England is even considering flogging the spiritual home of the game.
It is a national stadium with such a special place in the hearts of Englishmen.
The venue where the World Cup was lifted in 1966 by Bobby Moore.
Our own ‘field of dreams’ where fairy tales have come true and dramatic stories have been written year after year.
But why stop at just selling it off? Why not let the Americans rip down the building and its iconic arch and rebuild it in Jacksonville, Florida?
That’s where the Jacksonville Jaguars play and it’s their owner, Shahid Khan, who has bid £800m for Wembley.
London Bridge was dismantled in 1968 and relocated to Arizona, so, heck, what’s the problem with pulling down our home and rebuilding it 4,500 miles away?
Okay, that’s not going to happen. But what has been happening over the last few years is ‘The Beautiful Game’ has now become ‘The Bountiful Game’.
It’s all about the money, or, in this case, the buck. Khan, who also owns Fulham, in his statement yesterday gave plenty away.
Wembley, he said, would, “Deliver another asset and local revenue source that would further strengthen our investment in London”. And they say romance in football is dead!
Nice to know the place where Geoff Hurst scored that amazing hat-trick against West Germany 52 years ago could become such an important asset and local revenue source to a 67-year-old billionaire.
American Football, or NFL, appears to be the key. The idea, it seems, is the purchase of Wembley will see the creation of the first NFL franchise outside of the USA.
It is ironic that when England skipper Moore went to play in the States in the late 70s, in the twilight of his career, it was thought our football would become the big thing in America.
It did not happen and now their game is trying to integrate itself over here. We’ve got used to Big Macs, now we could have to get used to Big Men in Big Shoulder Pads.
Millions have watched cup finals and internationals – and other sport and concerts – at Wembley and there have been highlights galore.
They include Stanley Matthews’ mesmerising display in Blackpool’s 4-3 FA Cup final defeat of Bolton in 1953.
Who can forget Paul Gascoigne’s amazing display and goal for England against Scotland at Euro 96? You can go on and on.
They may not have had Khan’s cash and clout but Scotland – in 1977 – also did their best to steal our stadium after a pitch invasion. The whereabouts of the goalposts are still a mystery.
Everyone will have their favourite Wembley memory. For myself it is perhaps not top of the all-time greatest moments list.
It was the 1992 FA Trophy final, when my hometown club, Colchester United, beat Witton Albion 3-1 to pull off a double, having won the Conference that year as well.
Around 3,000 watch them these days. Such was the appeal of the club’s first visit to Wembley that 20,000 made the trip.
The outpouring of anger that greeted yesterday’s confirmation of a possible sale suggested that the numbers demanding it does not happen will stretch to millions. And not thousands.