Wembley report heads for ministers

Wembley is ready for the bulldozers

The future of Wembley Stadium is about to take another turn.

Sir Patrick Carter hands his report on the way forward for the national stadium project to sports minister Tessa Jowell this week.

Carter was chosen by the then Home Secretary Jack Straw in May as a 'stadium supremo' to spearhead the challenge of building a new arena.

The move came after the original plans for Wembley were shelved when both the Football Association and the Government refused to foot the £700m bill.

Jack Straw heads the decision makers

There are numerous possible outcomes from this latest report, from renovating Wembley on a smaller, and cheaper, scale to moving the national stadium elsewhere.

It is also possible that the original plan of redeveloping Wembley with a running track to accommodate the 2005 World Athletics Championships could be dusted off.

Carter could even recommend shelving the idea of a national stadium altogether.

The report will be passed to a committee headed by Straw and the FA will not get to see a copy until it is published in late September - at the same time that the Government makes its final decision on the way forward.

The Government claims the decision to review the whole project was made because the FA could not "stand behind it", and was forced to ask for £300m.

The FA has expressed its support for the intervention of Carter and is keen to "dovetail" with the Government when the findings are published.

Options

No matter what conclusion Carter draws in his report he is sure to be unpopular with someone.

Brent Council is desperate that Wembley is renovated, while other locations - notably Bickenhill near Birmingham - are ready to step in given the chance.

Feverish lobbying from the interested parties in recent weeks has illustrated the fact that the future of the national stadium is still very uncertain.

Wembley remains the most likely location as much of the preparatory work has been done and a £120m lottery grant has already been spent on purchasing the site.

But neither the Football Association nor the Government now officially considers Wembley the ideal option, leaving Carter free to examine all the potential sites.