90 Wembley jobs lost

THE controversial £757m Wembley stadium project has claimed its first redundancies. It follows an escalating legal battle between two of its leading contractors, Australia's Multiplex and Darlington steel company Cleveland Bridge.

Now Cleveland, which put up the 350-metre arch that dominates the north-west London skyline, has stopped work and laid off 90 staff - about a third of its workforce.

And it has issued a writ against Multiplex, claiming it is owed £12m.

There are fears that the showcase stadium will not be ready for the 2006 deadline to host the FA Cup Final. Sources close to Cleveland Bridge believe it will be six months behind schedule and the project could be at least £100m over budget. This claim is fiercely contested by Multiplex and the Football Association, which has pumped £150m into the project.

The prospect of delays or cost overruns is the last thing football's governing body needs after the scandal that rocked it last week when chief executive Mark Palios, an accountant, quit over revelations that he and England manager Sven Goran Eriksson had separate affairs with FA secretary Faria Alam.

In June, Multiplex and Cleveland agreed to end all disputes and a new contractor, Hollandia, was brought in to manufacture steelworks on site while Cleveland continued to make off-site steel. But the firm said Multiplex breached this contract. It said in a statement that it 'now has no faith in Multiplex honouring its commitments and paying the sums due'.

A Cleveland source added: 'There have been setbacks already because of difficulties with the concrete and engineering problems. And we know that Hollandia will face delays because it is starting a new and complicated engineering project.

'We estimate it will be at least six months late.'

An FA spokesman said: 'We are confident it will be ready on time.'

And a spokesman for Multiplex described the allegations made by Cleveland as 'absolute rubbish'.

He added: 'The opening date of the stadium remains as scheduled.'