High hopes for new Wembley

Football Association chief executive Adam Crozier insists the new Wembley will be the best stadium in the world.

The £757m deal to rebuild the home of English football was finally rubber-stamped on Thursday following months of uncertainty.

"It has been a long wait in many, many ways," said Crozier.

"I don't think anyone would suggest there haven't been mistakes made. I think there is no doubt it has taken far too long."

But he added: "We believe we will have the finest stadium in the world, a stadium the whole country will be very, very proud of."

The bulldozers are due to move in at 1100 BST on Monday, with the project expected to be completed in early 2006.

The cost has now risen to £757m, a world record for a national stadium and on a par with the cost of the ill-fated Millennium Dome.

But Crozier insisted the FA would never have gone ahead with the rebuilding of Wembley if it was going to burden the governing body.

"If we thought it was going to be a drain we would not be right to proceed," he said.

"We don't have any doubt that this is the right thing to do," he said.

The Scot also revealed the transport links to the new stadium would be a significant improvement on the chaos which often embroiled matches at the old stadium.

He added: "There's going to be a very large investment in Wembley Park tube station which should take that capacity to around 40,000 per hour and the road infrastructure will be changed as well.

"There will be park-and-ride schemes and obviously car parks will be improved."

The new Wembley has been designed by the World Stadium Team, a joint venture between original architect Lord Foster and partners HOK Sport, formed in 1998 specifically to handle the new development.