Budgets have been exceeded, deadlines have been missed, workers have gone on strike and the relationship between Multiplex and Wembley National Stadium Ltd, the FA subsidiary that owns the stadium, has been troubled (to put it mildly). The first professional football match since 2000 took place on Saturday at the new £757m Stadium but the controversy didn’t stop there; fans of both Chelsea and Manchester United were advised by their peers to boycott food, merchandise and programmes inside Wembley on Saturday – why? An official match programme was priced at £10, a burger £5 and a pint £4.50. Nevertheless, here are the facts…
• The new Wembley has a circumference of 1 km.
• At peak construction there were 2,000+ people working on site.
• The new pitch will be 4 metres lower than the previous pitch.
• Each of the 2 giant screens is the size of 600 domestic television sets.
• The 1,750 tonne Arch will be 133m at its highest point and 7 metres in diameter;look at it another way, the London Eye could be rolled underneath the Arch.
• The new roof is over 11 acres, 4 acres are moveable. The roof alone will weigh almost 7,000 tonnes.
• With 90,000 seats it is the largest football stadium in the world with every seat under cover. There will be no obstructed views.
• There is more leg room in every seat than there was in the Royal Box of the old.
• There will be 2,618 toilets - which WNSL estimate is more than any other stadium in the world.
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