The sale of Wembley

An awful lot of tosh has been written about the possibility sale of Wembley to Shahid Khan. You would have thought  we were losing  a national art treasure. Prejudice has got in the way of facts. The reality is that the FA is the only national football body that owns its own stadium and this only since 1999. If the FA want to sell it, it’s no big deal.

I am suspicious of what actually is meant by money going towards helping grassroots. Conversely it will only enhance sport in the Capital to have a leading Americans NFL team the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The NFL made it clear that they will only award a London franchise to an existing team and fixtures planning may pose a problem for west coast teams. The Jags achieve higher attendances in London than in Jacksonville as it’s a popular sport here.

London will not just have wonderful venues with 2 multi-sport stadia, the Emirates, Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane, Twickenham and Lords but develop another sport that has a wide following.

Shahid Khan has had planning permission to develop his Riverside Stand at Craven Cottage. I don’t see any risk to Fulham’s tenure of their quaint and picturesque ground. Indeed the fans I know are already ribbing Chelsea fans who may have to use Wembley if they move there as “rent boys”.  You don’t become one of the richest men in world by being a fool and he will know that to tinker with Wembley’s status is only to constrain its profitability.

The deal is not done but I for one welcome it.