October 22 – The proposed £600 million sale of Wembley stadium that would have helped fund the development of grass-roots football in England collapsed because of “old men” who are “living in the past” according to former Football Association chairman Greg Dyke.
As opposition grows over Fulham owner Shahid Khan withdrawing his offer for the iconic national stadium because of opposition from within the FA’s somewhat antiquated Council membership system, Dyke said the decision whether to accept the deal should have been taken at elite boardroom level.
Dyke, who was FA chairman from 2013 to 2016, told the BBC: “If I’d been chairman, I would have said it is the (FA) board’s decision.”
“I don’t think the council is equipped to make this decision — that is what the FA board is for.
“The council is living in the past, as it always has done. If you want to have a step change in grassroots facilities in this country you need this sort of money to be spent.
“It’s bizarre that the old men of the FA Council have stopped this.”
Khan made his offer in April and the full FA Council was to have voted on whether to accept it on Oct. 24. But the offer was withdrawn when it became clear the Council’s 127 members were divided on the issue.
Another former FA chairman David Bernstein has also spoken out against the deal’s collapse and Dyke added: “The FA has only owned Wembley for 10 to 15 years, before that it was a private business.”
“The idea you are going to lose something of value to Britain because it is not owned by the FA is the wrong one compared to spending £600m doing what is desperately needed in this country and that is to spend money on grassroots facilities. If you want to have a step change in grassroots facilities in this country you need this sort of money to be spent.
“One of the tragedies of English football in recent years is that all the extra money that has come into the Premier League has by and large gone to players or agents, and not to football generally.”
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