Last night was a disaster, England lost to Croatia at Wembley. I was there and it was awful.
In the pouring rain England were outplayed and out-thought, their Euro dream washed away and with it my football holiday to Austria/Switzerland in the summer of 2008. Bloody morons!
I have been to dozens of new stadiums around the world so I was really looking forward to my first experience at the new Wembley Stadium. I have missed every game since the Stadium opened, I have either been in the US or in the case of the FA Cup Final, I voluntarily gave up my ticket for a mate’s birthday (and I won’t let him forget it).
I love going to England games, the passion, the noise, the general camaraderie. Last night I witnessed none of it (other than 5 minutes of the game when England had drawn level). I think the new stadium has a crowd problem, the fans are not the same as before, not as vocal, not as loud. It may have been a combination of nerves, stadium design, the rain or even the fact that the new Wembley is now largely attended by the “prawn sandwich” brigade but one thing is certain, the crowd is lacking something. England fans, Wembley is waiting, where are you?
To say the stadium was a waste of money would be the understatement of the year. It is diabolical that over £800 million was spent on creating such a lifeless, boring bowl. It may look pretty from aerial photos or night shots but inside the ground it is simply atrocious. I judge stadiums by their atmosphere, defining features or uniqueness. Sadly Wembley has none of these.
What it does have is logistical problems, plenty of them. England has still not managed to master selling food and drink at stadiums. Queues everywhere until they run out. Its surprising there are any queues at all considering a hotdog costs £4 and a disgusting english burger and chips costs more than £7!
Generally it would take a good 45 minutes to get from the stadium to the train station, standing in huge queues in the pouring rain was not something we felt like doing after such a poor result. So instead we found a pub nearby and waited for the crowds to diminish. All told a really bad night made worse by my disappointment at the £800 million it took to create the greatest stadium flop on earth.
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