Wembley unveils ad in stadium fight

A new aggressive advertising campaign was launched by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone today highlighting the case for Wembley and reminding ministers why it was chosen in the first place as the venue for the new national stadium.

The emotive crusade, which will be published in heavyweight political magazines like The Spectator from this week, features a young boy holding a pair of football boots.

Playing on the emotional pull of Wembley, it pokes fun at alternative plans to build a national football stadium at Bickenhill, Birmingham.

A Government review is considering the merits of the troubled national stadium project and is due to report its findings on 20 August.

There are fears within the Greater London Authority and Brent Council that Patrick Carter, the no-nonsense former director of the Prison Service leading the investigation, could scrap Wembley in favour of Birmingham.

With ongoing concerns about financing the Wembley redevelopment, recent reports have suggested that plans for a cheaper 80,000-seater stadium near the National Exhibition Centre are already winning favour among senior Cabinet members.

Although Carter is thought to have been given a clear remit to make Wembley work, the GLA and Brent have been shaken by his direct approach.

Ultimately, however, it is down to the Football Association, who own Wembley National Stadium Ltd, to decide the next step after Carter's report. They are close to tying up a deal with building contractors Multiplex, which will see the Australian company build the stadium and then lease it back to the FA.

If that deal removes the need for Government money - the review was launched only after FA chief executive Adam Crozier asked for £150million to prop the scheme up in May - then the Government would find it difficult to change the location of the stadium.

Despite that, politicians and celebrities in Birmingham have been mounting an increasingly aggressive campaign in recent weeks in an effort to persuade Carter and the Government to ditch Wembley.

So just to remind ministers why Wembley was chosen during the initial competition for the national stadium in 1996, the GLA have launched the advert to jog their memory.

They highlight the 20,000 jobs that Wembley will create, transport improvements and more than £500m of investment that will be lost if it is scrapped.

Livingstone said: "Wembley is already a world-famous name and has helped to maintain Britain's international reputation as the home of football.

"It is the highlight of any footballer's career to play at Wembley and it is unthinkable that the magic that is Wembley could be transferred to another location."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in