Why England need to ditch Wembley if they want to get the fans back onside

By Ian Winwood

Published 10:15 03/09/10

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And so the time has come to start all over again. Tonight at Wembley Stadium England will take to the pitch – hopefully this time it is a pitch, rather than a farmer’s field – against those world class opponents Bulgaria.

On Wednesday the team will fly abroad and play – there are no easy games at this level, remember – Switzerland. It’s possible, even probable, that ‘our boys’ will win both of these games and that talk will begin once again about ‘us’ winning Euro 2012.

The difference this time, though, is that there is a disparity between what the players may say and what the people on television are bound to say and what those who actually watch England without being paid to do so actually feel.

Following the yawn of ineptitude that was the national team’s effort at this summer’s World Cup there remains a well of anger and indignation in the country at large.

This time, people are really cross, in a way they haven’t been in the past. And this is something that isn’t likely to go away in a hurry.

Part of this anger has nothing at all to do with the England team and everything to do with the fact that in 2010 it really doesn’t take much for people to get angry at footballers.

In times of recession the idea of young men trousering £100,000 a week, and more, can be difficult to stomach. The notion that these highly skilled athletes are also greedy, selfish berks who have nothing in common with those who pay to watch them has stuck fast.

But elsewhere, the England set-up is to blame. There is a gap that exists between the team and the country, and part of the reason for this gap is surely the fact that all of England’s home games take place at one venue.

Wembley Stadium is not located in the middle of the country. It is not easy to get to if you live in Croydon, let alone Carlisle.

If the games are on the weekend it may well be that one or even both of the two tube lines that serve the area are suspended for ‘essential engineering works’ that have been running for longer than The Mousetrap.

If the games are midweek evening fixtures then almost everyone who lives more than an hour away from the capital will be unable to catch a train home until the following morning. This means a hotel, a day off work, and a wallet full of expense.

During the 45 years it took to build the new Wembley Stadium the national team toured the country. They played at Anfield, at Old Trafford, at St James’ Park, at the Stadium Of Light, at Villa Park – in other words, in cities where people like football just as much as those who live in the South East of England.

It’s as if the team were saying, Well since you’re willing to come and see us play, it’s the least we can do to travel around so everyone gets a game near to where they live.

Of course they were saying no such thing.

What they were saying was, We have no home at the moment so we’ll flit from ground to ground. It was the footballing equivalent of kipping on the settee at various friends’ houses.

Unlike many of the fans who will journey to Wembley tonight you can bet that after the match none of the England team slept three to a room in a Travelodge. But at least it looked like they were making an effort.

And now it doesn’t.

The England team can’t be bothered to leave one place, so you have to come to them. If you want to watch the matches on television then you’ll need cable or satellite television for the away games.

Home matches are on ITV, where Adrian Chiles will work at twice his BBC speed in order to make space for all of the things people are trying to sell you while you are trying to think about the game.

The overall impression is that football at this level is about money and capitalism, and that the game itself is merely the Trojan horse that carries all this crap.

Fans are aware of this and will put up with it as long as the team on the pitch and those in charge look as if they give a damn.

But if they do not – and at the moment they don’t – then the divide between those who watch the national team and those who play for it will grow only larger.

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