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If I was to say “1966”, what would you think of?
I’m willing to bet that you’d be thinking “And it’s Hirst, he’s got...some people are on the pitch they think it’s all over....it is now!!” England winning the World Cup was THE moment in British sport.
Although most of us (myself included) weren’t around in 1966, the legacy of Wembley stadium will forever live on in that fantastic match, when England proved that they were the best at ‘the beautiful game’. When Bobby Moore held aloft the famous Jules Rimet trophy all those years ago, it was the pinnacle of our nations sporting success, and Wembley was the focal point of that achievement.
People might say that Wembley stadium is/was just a load of bricks, seats and grass, in basic terms, they’d be right. However, the home of football holds a special place in the nations hearts, so it’s a dreadful shame that we are in this position of seeing the Wembley project suffer at the hands of stuttering politicians and red-tape.
Why can’t we have a new national stadium to be proud of? The French have the impressive Stade de France, and even the Welsh have the magnificent Millennium Stadium. Wales are minnows of world football, and although it is a rugby stadium too, it’s amazing to see such a great stadium in such a place.
Though I wouldn’t say I’m a ‘die-hard’ supporter, but I can understand the frustration that many people feel when thinking about Wembley.
The F.A Cup is without a doubt the most famous annual team sport cup competition in the world, and a showpiece finale to the gruelling footie season, and now it hasn’t got a proper home and the final is played in a foreign country.
Wembley has played host to many great sporting events; the 1966 win, the Euro ’96 matches against Scotland (Gascoigne’s goal against Scotland rules!), the 4-1 drubbing we gave the Dutch, and the semi-final exit against the Germans on penalties, the sad defeat in the last Wembley game against Germany, and many classic F.A Cup finals.
It wasn’t just sport that benefited from Wembley either, ‘Live Aid’, one of the most culturally significant and successful music festivals ever was held there.
At the moment though, Wembley is left derelict, with no clear sign about development. No matter how many government taskforces, enquiries, investigations or committees of MPs look into the matter, it still doesn’t change the fact that we have been robbed of a national treasure, with still no clear sign of getting a new one.
The Millennium Dome comes to mind, that had similar problems, was way over budget and became a disaster for the government.
In the years that Wembley has been left unoccupied awaiting redevelopment, people’s faith in the whole project has diminished, and pretty soon, if you mention the words “Wembley Stadium”, we may forget about the great heritage and sporting success and think about the glum crumbling stadium and F.A/government failings. And that would be a terrible shame.
I was lucky enough to go to the 2001 F.A Cup final between Liverpool and Arsenal, and although the Millennium Stadium is extremely impressive, I would have preferred to be at Wembley.
Many years ago, children would dream of scoring the winning goal in the F.A Cup final at Wembley, or after a semi-final success, fans would chant “we’re on our way to Wembley”. Somehow “we’re on our way to Cardiff” just doesn’t fit the bill.
The whole situation stinks of incompetence, ineptitude, corruption, red tape, etc.
The estimated cost of rebuilding Wembley Stadium has more than trebled since the project was first mooted in 1996. Back then, the budget was expected to be about £220m. By May 2001, when the government refused a request from the Football Association for financial help with the troubled project, the cost had risen to £700m
A consortium headed by a German bank could rescue Wembley Stadium.
Westdeutsche Landesbank is believed to be in talks over financing of the planned £700+m redevelopment of the stadium, beating off competition from our own Barclays Bank.
I know it doesn’t really matter where the money comes from, but a national stadium should be the pride of a nation and something we can be proud of, and yet if it’s funded by a German bank, it wont feel as if it’s 100% our own.
We are one of the richest nations in the world, so why can’t we afford to fund our own national stadium?
Wembley is an important part of our history and our future, so it should be an English project, funded by English money (It's not a racist thing, it's just the way it should be).
At the time of writing, the F.A is still yet to finalise a deal for the stadium project, so we wait even more.
Football fans deserve better, they follow the game with great dedication, it’s a hobby to many people, and they have been messed around by this whole affair for far too long.
I’m willing to bet that you’d be thinking “And it’s Hirst, he’s got...some people are on the pitch they think it’s all over....it is now!!” England winning the World Cup was THE moment in British sport.
Although most of us (myself included) weren’t around in 1966, the legacy of Wembley stadium will forever live on in that fantastic match, when England proved that they were the best at ‘the beautiful game’. When Bobby Moore held aloft the famous Jules Rimet trophy all those years ago, it was the pinnacle of our nations sporting success, and Wembley was the focal point of that achievement.
People might say that Wembley stadium is/was just a load of bricks, seats and grass, in basic terms, they’d be right. However, the home of football holds a special place in the nations hearts, so it’s a dreadful shame that we are in this position of seeing the Wembley project suffer at the hands of stuttering politicians and red-tape.
Why can’t we have a new national stadium to be proud of? The French have the impressive Stade de France, and even the Welsh have the magnificent Millennium Stadium. Wales are minnows of world football, and although it is a rugby stadium too, it’s amazing to see such a great stadium in such a place.
Though I wouldn’t say I’m a ‘die-hard’ supporter, but I can understand the frustration that many people feel when thinking about Wembley.
The F.A Cup is without a doubt the most famous annual team sport cup competition in the world, and a showpiece finale to the gruelling footie season, and now it hasn’t got a proper home and the final is played in a foreign country.
Wembley has played host to many great sporting events; the 1966 win, the Euro ’96 matches against Scotland (Gascoigne’s goal against Scotland rules!), the 4-1 drubbing we gave the Dutch, and the semi-final exit against the Germans on penalties, the sad defeat in the last Wembley game against Germany, and many classic F.A Cup finals.
It wasn’t just sport that benefited from Wembley either, ‘Live Aid’, one of the most culturally significant and successful music festivals ever was held there.
At the moment though, Wembley is left derelict, with no clear sign about development. No matter how many government taskforces, enquiries, investigations or committees of MPs look into the matter, it still doesn’t change the fact that we have been robbed of a national treasure, with still no clear sign of getting a new one.
The Millennium Dome comes to mind, that had similar problems, was way over budget and became a disaster for the government.
In the years that Wembley has been left unoccupied awaiting redevelopment, people’s faith in the whole project has diminished, and pretty soon, if you mention the words “Wembley Stadium”, we may forget about the great heritage and sporting success and think about the glum crumbling stadium and F.A/government failings. And that would be a terrible shame.
I was lucky enough to go to the 2001 F.A Cup final between Liverpool and Arsenal, and although the Millennium Stadium is extremely impressive, I would have preferred to be at Wembley.
Many years ago, children would dream of scoring the winning goal in the F.A Cup final at Wembley, or after a semi-final success, fans would chant “we’re on our way to Wembley”. Somehow “we’re on our way to Cardiff” just doesn’t fit the bill.
The whole situation stinks of incompetence, ineptitude, corruption, red tape, etc.
The estimated cost of rebuilding Wembley Stadium has more than trebled since the project was first mooted in 1996. Back then, the budget was expected to be about £220m. By May 2001, when the government refused a request from the Football Association for financial help with the troubled project, the cost had risen to £700m
A consortium headed by a German bank could rescue Wembley Stadium.
Westdeutsche Landesbank is believed to be in talks over financing of the planned £700+m redevelopment of the stadium, beating off competition from our own Barclays Bank.
I know it doesn’t really matter where the money comes from, but a national stadium should be the pride of a nation and something we can be proud of, and yet if it’s funded by a German bank, it wont feel as if it’s 100% our own.
We are one of the richest nations in the world, so why can’t we afford to fund our own national stadium?
Wembley is an important part of our history and our future, so it should be an English project, funded by English money (It's not a racist thing, it's just the way it should be).
At the time of writing, the F.A is still yet to finalise a deal for the stadium project, so we wait even more.
Football fans deserve better, they follow the game with great dedication, it’s a hobby to many people, and they have been messed around by this whole affair for far too long.
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It really is an outrageous price. I'm sure they could do it much cheaper.
And by the looks of things, it's going to have a sodding great running track around it, keeping the crowd miles from the pitch - so the atmosphere might suck.
And by the looks of things, it's going to have a sodding great running track around it, keeping the crowd miles from the pitch - so the atmosphere might suck.
£757million
Mad really.
just a little cut and paste job here...where the money is coming from.
"The FA will put £148million towards the cost, 50% more than was anticipated in Carter's interim report of last December.
Sport England have already provided £120million Lottery cash, most of which was used to buy the site, £426million will come from Westdeutsche Landesbank with the remainder coming from the London Development Agency, sales of premium seats, plus sponsorship and leasing rights."
Mad really.
just a little cut and paste job here...where the money is coming from.
"The FA will put £148million towards the cost, 50% more than was anticipated in Carter's interim report of last December.
Sport England have already provided £120million Lottery cash, most of which was used to buy the site, £426million will come from Westdeutsche Landesbank with the remainder coming from the London Development Agency, sales of premium seats, plus sponsorship and leasing rights."
Huh??????? Am I seeing things or has Sonic Rav posted in this forum!!????
:O
:O
Despite what I said about Anfield, our national stadium HAS to be in London. I think Spain are an exception, as Madrid's the capital and they play their home games at the Nou Camp in Barcelona I believe.
I really don't care what the new Wembley's like anymore after the FA have screwed it up over and over untill it's become a paper ball that cannot be undone!
Just as long as it's bigger than before and improved in several other ways, i'll be happy. The original mutli-sport idea looked good, and i'd love it to be like that.
Just as long as it IS advanced from the original Wembley, i'll be happy and MAY let the FA off for destroying a piece of Brittish history and leaving it to rot after coming back to reality over the money being spent on the likes of Beckham and Keane.
I really don't care what the new Wembley's like anymore after the FA have screwed it up over and over untill it's become a paper ball that cannot be undone!
Just as long as it's bigger than before and improved in several other ways, i'll be happy. The original mutli-sport idea looked good, and i'd love it to be like that.
Just as long as it IS advanced from the original Wembley, i'll be happy and MAY let the FA off for destroying a piece of Brittish history and leaving it to rot after coming back to reality over the money being spent on the likes of Beckham and Keane.
Getting to Birmigham is a b!tch though as the motorway to get up there is more or less constantly jam packed and you are lucky to be moving faster than 30Mph...
Agree with Wookiee on this one. The national satdium should definitely be in the country's capital City - especially when that capital city dawrfs every other major city in the country.
Nope. National stadium - capital city.
What I find amusing is the way the FA's deadline for Wembley (after which time Brum would become fav. if Wembley didn't get it's act together), suddenly became fexible... because that's what deadlines are (according to the guy in charge of the project).
Even after the recent financial chaos, they STILL haven't admitted that Wembley won't work, and Brum is the best.
Sonic
Even after the recent financial chaos, they STILL haven't admitted that Wembley won't work, and Brum is the best.
Sonic
Digby wrote:
> The only problem with Wembley is it's location, making it difficult to
> get to for most people, even Londoners, cos the transport links are
> shyte.
Yeah, but this can be worked on.
They wouldn't give Arsenal permission to build the new stadium at Ashburton Grove until the agreed to assist in enhancing transport in the surrounding area. So it can be done.
Obviously, though, government (either local or national) are unwilling to foot the bill. Hence Arsenal are paying for the changes in Islington. To do the same around Wembley would seemingly need government funding, and so it's unlikely to happen.
I'm still dead against the national stadium being anywhere but London, though. A national stadium must be in the nation's capital - simple as that.
> The only problem with Wembley is it's location, making it difficult to
> get to for most people, even Londoners, cos the transport links are
> shyte.
Yeah, but this can be worked on.
They wouldn't give Arsenal permission to build the new stadium at Ashburton Grove until the agreed to assist in enhancing transport in the surrounding area. So it can be done.
Obviously, though, government (either local or national) are unwilling to foot the bill. Hence Arsenal are paying for the changes in Islington. To do the same around Wembley would seemingly need government funding, and so it's unlikely to happen.
I'm still dead against the national stadium being anywhere but London, though. A national stadium must be in the nation's capital - simple as that.
As you said, "the home of football holds a special place in the nations hearts" but speaking to foriegners it would apear that Wembley holds a place in the hearts of footballers all over the world - remember Ossie Ardiles who dreamt of playing in an FA Cup Final at Wembley? I bet he wouldn't have felt the same if he had played at Cardiff!
The only problem with Wembley is it's location, making it difficult to get to for most people, even Londoners, cos the transport links are shyte.
But I agree, as the "Home of Football" Wembley is a world symbol and should be rebuilt. (but with better transport links)
The only problem with Wembley is it's location, making it difficult to get to for most people, even Londoners, cos the transport links are shyte.
But I agree, as the "Home of Football" Wembley is a world symbol and should be rebuilt. (but with better transport links)
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