Nick Clegg waxes lyrical about England’s 2018 World Cup chances.
“You could technically hold the World Cup here tomorrow.”
No you can’t. Fix that Wembley pitch for god sakes before it breaks the legs of the players. Listen to what Sir Alex, Arsene Wenger, and Harry Redknapp have to say about the divots and the boggy state of the pitch that cause so many players to slip. Michael Owen injured his hamstring in the 2009 -10 Carling Cup final.
Wembley will most likely be the venue for a number of World Cup matches and definitely the finals.
The new Desso semi-artificial turf installed for the Community Shield match between Chelsea and Liverpool is the 12th time that the pitch has had to be re-laid since 2007.
It was an improvement over the 2010 FA Cup final – that pitch according to John Terry ruined the match. At heart is the massively overrun cost of constructing the stadium which is being recouped by the number of concerts that are crammed into the event schedule. The hundreds of thousands of standees attending these concerts destroy the pitch which needs to be relaid at the cost of £125,000 every four months.
Other technicalities- the London transit in its present shape and form will not be able to handle the influx of hundred and thousands of fans. The tube closes at 12PM and then there is sketchy night bus service for the revelers. Unless one wants to pay an arm and leg for cabs. Heathrow and Gatwick are not even adequate to handle air traffic and passenger flow in its present state. The former is a nightmare with its air traffic congestion.
Stansted and Luton are far away and do not have enough shuttle services into and from the city.
So Mr Clegg, “technically” you will not be able to hold the World Cup tomorrow.