Wembley sale on?

THE Football Association believe there would be increased support for the future sale of Wembley from their council, as they digest redundancies and potential losses of £300million.

A senior FA source told The Mail on Sunday that a substantial number of FA council members could now back the sale — despite Fulham owner Shahid Khan withdrawing a £600m offer for the stadium in 2018 due to their lack of support.

The potential U-turn comes as the governing body digest losses of between £100m-£300m over the next four years, due to the coronavirus crisis and the prospect of a recession. The FA have announced they are to make 124 redundancies due to cancelled fixtures, matches with no crowds and the suspension of concerts and entertainment at Wembley.

‘We face some very difficult decisions and the issue of selling Wembley could be among them. Everyone can see our circumstances have changed dramatically over the last two years’, said the source.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham this week warned ‘we do not think we can afford to do all the things we did before’ as he announced the cutbacks.

Khan has not ruled out making another bid if there was more support from FA Council members, although it is unlikely he would be willing to match his previous offer.

‘We don’t know what the future holds,’ said chairman Greg Clarke. ‘The problem is that the pandemic will be followed by recession.’