The collapse of the sale of Wembley has been described by the Football Foundation as a missed opportunity to tackle the “shameful state” of grassroots facilities in this country.
Last winter 50,000 matches were postponed because of bad pitches and, according to FA research, only one in three grass pitches are of adequate quality.
The Football Foundation, the charity organisation who would have distributed the money raised by the £600million sale to Shahid Khan, have bemoaned the loss of what they called a “once in a lifetime opportunity”. They said the deal falling through “should come as a huge disappointment to community footballers everywhere”.
In a statement, Football Foundation chief executive Paul Thorogood said: “Football participation in this country is huge. Unfortunately, those who play the game as a sport, simply for the love of doing so and for the health benefits, are having to put up with a stock of community football facilities that is in a shameful state.
“The news that Mr Khan has decided to withdraw his offer to buy Wembley Stadium should come as a huge disappointment to community footballers everywhere. This would have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make inroads into the most pressing issue facing football.
“An additional £600m could have been turned into £1.2bn through working with local authorities, local education authorities and other organisations.”
Sports minister Tracey Crouch MP said she was “very disappointed” by Khan’s decision. She said the deal represented a “huge opportunity to boost funding into the development of and maintenance of artificial and grassroots pitches”.
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