Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Wembley Stadium

The whole situation with the rebuilding of Wembley Stadium is a national embarrassment. Multiplex, the Sydney-based company building the icon of English football have failed to guarantee that it would be ready in time for this years cup final in mid-May so the game has been switched to Cardiff's Millenium Stadium. The same applies to the play-off finals and the 2 scheduled friendlies against Hungary and Jamaica. The England games will be moved to Old Trafford.

There is little doubt that once the stadium is finally completed, it will be one of the finest, if not the finest stadium in the world. So what has gone wrong? The cost is beyond belief - £757m....and the company are making a loss !!! This figure dwarfs the amount that the Portuguese paid for ALL the stadia for Euro 2004.

I just don't understand how it's taking so long and costing so much money. Whether it's red tape, bureaucracy, lazy workers or any other reason, it needs to be addressed and steps taken to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Think about this. The last game at the old Wembley was when Germany won 1-0 in Kevin Keegans last game in charge. That was in September 2000......over 5 years ago. London have been awarded the 2012 Olympics which is in just over 6 years time. Before then the Olympic Park at Stratford has to be built, the transport infrastructure of London upgraded and countless other construction projects. I don't fancy the chances of everything being ready in time and to think, the press slaughtered the Greeks over the 2004 Olympics saying their facilities wouldn't be ready in time. I don't think the Greek papers will make pleasant reading come early 2012.

Moving ahead (or back) to the Euro 2008 qualifiers, the FA are meeting in Zagreb tomorrow to try to sort out our fixtures which will start in September. There is huge amount of excitement and anticipation amongst England fans with some great away trips coming up - Russia, Estonia, Croatia, Israel, Macedonia and Andorra (Barcelona) will all be interesting places to visit. Once the fixtures are announced, they will be put on the ever expanding Euro 2008 website http://www.euro2008info.com/qualifying_groups.htm

Finally, I'd just like to wish Manchester United's Alan Smith who broke his leg recently, a full recovery. Whatever you think of Smith's abilities as a player, this type of injury is awful and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

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