The announcement that the Football Association is in talks to sell Wembley Stadium to a Pakistani-American businessman tells us much about the state of the FA.
Wembley is our national stadium, an iconic venue for almost a century and for there to be even the slightest suggestion that it might be sold to foreign interests is shocking. Whatever money is offered and whatever guarantees are given, it simply cannot be right that future England football matches, various cup and promotion finals and assorted other national events should be held at a stadium that is not owned by British investors.
As has been said by Ken Bates, a former chairman of Wembley Stadium, guarantees become meaningless once a deal has been done and financial considerations would inevitably prevail. The potential buyer, Shahid Khan, lives in the USA and has serious interests in American football; a major part of his rationale in bidding for Wembley is to enhance and enlarge these interests in the UK. Although he also owns Fulham FC, it seems likely that Mr Khan sees the opportunity of bringing the American version of football to the biggest stadium in England as being one that will be a big money spinner; 'real' football is of little interest to him.
Again as Bates has said, Wembley has to be protected from such foreign raiders and, if necessary and against both his and my usual strong views against such action, it should be nationalised. Sadly, I really don't see this happening and I fully expect the FA to be dazzled by the oodles of cash being thrown at them. How long will it then be before we have FA Cup Finals being played at the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL Stadium ?
The FA has a chequered history of supporting English football and now it appears to be on the point of deserting it altogether. Shame on them.
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