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Selling Wembley

Stelios

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Seems the FA are determined to sell Wembley. Thoughts? Get rid? Terrible atmosphere? Not what it was. Or, keep it? Home of football, don't sell off the family silver?

Why on earth would they sell it to an American (Fulham owner) who wants to use it to grow American Football in this country? I can't stand the game but why would the English FA want to strengthen American Football in this country? Why let the NFL park their tanks on the lawn of English Football? Let Khan build his own stadium if he's that desperate to grow the NFL. It would cost a billion to buy land and build a 90000 seater stadium from scratch in London. Why are they doing it?

The money will go back to grassroots football, we are told...

If you're going to sell it, why not open it up to the open market? Something stinks about the deal. It feels like Khan is getting an awful lot for less than it cost to build.......... The debt the FA owe for building it will soon be paid off. It's a win-win for whoever owns in the future. Why is the FA selling now? It doesn't have to. Madness.

Part of the deal will force England to carry on playing there and for FA Cups/Play offs to be staged there etc so we're still going to have to go to the bleddy place!!!

Weirdly, I've learnt that the FA never used to 'own' the old classic Wembley anyway and just leased it.
 
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Terryhall

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According to a few bits I've read on this, current estimates to build an equivalent modern stadium come in around £1bn. As such the reported sale price £600m is what I would describe as "sale of the century" levels (even with the % sell on fee, should he flip it for a profit in the future).

The FA claims that this will be ploughed back into "grassroots football" but I think I'd want to see the full business plan around the use of that £600m, how exactly it will be invested and what the expected outcomes would be - e.g. how much bang will the British taxpayer get for their buck (after all, it is the British taxpayers who paid the construction costs of Wembley - and on this point, I'm not familiar with the original split of construction costs, but to the extent Scottish, Welsh and NI taxpayers did contribute to the original construction costs, it seems only fair that their FA should also receive a pro-rate portion of the eventual sale price). In particular I'd want to see a material (and permanent) decrease in the cost of FA coaching courses - these are far more expensive than in e.g. Spain or Germany, creating an artificial barrier to entry, leading to significantly fewer qualified coaches at the grassroots level. For years the FA has claimed it had to set the course costs higher than it wanted to because of the need to pay off Wembley - once sold, and in the absence of Wembley cost burden on the FA, you would expect these costs to dramatically decrease to similar levels to our European counterparts, and for that to not take a chunk out of the £600m windfall (as this is a cost that falls away permanently once Wembley is sold, rather than a subsidy of a course fee paid for by the Wembley sale proceeds.)

Overall its hard to say whether this would be a good deal or not; but on face value, the price looks low to me; and much will depend on how the FA intends to distribute and use the windfall it will receive. As Wembley was paid for by the public, there should be absolute transparency on the proposed uses of the proceeds (and noted that of course the UK is not Switzerland; but in Switzerland, this is exactly the kind of transaction that would be subject to either local or national referendum before it could proceed).
 

fred binneys head

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If the FA want to improve the quality of football played at grass roots they should invest in pitches - a huge, expensive undertaking but crucial if we expect kids to be able to learn to play football properly.
 

grecIAN Harris

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Instead of selling Wembley maybe the FA should put a grass roots tax on the ridiculous transfer fees paid or received by Premiership clubs. Even if it was as small as 1% probably make the best part of £10 million a year to invest back.
 

Hants_red

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FSF are consulting fans on the sale. Put forward your opinions here http://www.fsf.org.uk/latest-news/view/supporter-consultation-on-wembley-sale-have-your-say
 

Terryhall

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Have replied to the survey this morning, basically what I said in my post above.
 

ramone

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If i had to agree with you we would both be wrong
 

Colesman Ballz

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Khan has withdrawn his offer for Wembley, for now at least ! (y)(clap)[england]
 

Hants_red

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Have replied to the survey this morning, basically what I said in my post above.
They've now released the results of their survey http://www.fsf.org.uk/blog/view/the-failed-Wembley-sale-what-did-fans-think?
 

Colesman Ballz

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The FA should really collectively "grow a pair" and come up with radical solutions to the problems and imbalance within the game. For a start as the controlling body they could require clubs who compete in the PL to have annual licence. Set at say £10m per season that alone could bring in £200m each year. It would show Khans offer for just how paltry it was. Then lets start on the agents, if players want agents to negotiate for them, then they should pay them out of their own salaries. The only justification for Clubs having to pay fees is when they themselves employ an agent to find them players. Let them live in the real world just like we do.

As Suzi Quatro once sang "Can the Kahn" not just for now but for ever !
 
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