Wembley shambles sinks to new low

Plans to build a £715million national football stadium at Wembley are set for further damaging delays after ministers announced today they were still not ready to endorse the project.

Downing Street said the Football Association's proposals were still "not quite there yet" - six years after they were first launched - and that yet more time was needed. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell is to make a detailed statement to MPs on Thursday but Tony Blair's official spokesman said that would not necessarily be the "end of the story".

As MPs heard details of the catalogue of blunders and mismanagement which have dogged the scheme, all the signs were that ministers still wanted the new look Wembley, which is to have a 90,000 capacity. But with £120 million of Lottery money already committed to the project, they cannot give a final endorsement while serious questions about its finances remain unanswered.

Any serious delays could threaten the entire future of the project. Birmingham is waiting in the wings with a rival bid but this looks highly unlikely to be backed by either the FA or the Government.

If Wembley does not go ahead, the likeliest option is that no national stadium will be built at all, with England internationals staged at club grounds and set-pieces such as the FA Cup final continuing at Cardiff 's Millennium Stadium.

In December, Ms Jowell set the project five key tests before it could win government backing. All but one have been achieved but the exception is the most crucial - funding.

FA officials remain confident of a deal with German bank West LB but there are no signs yet of a £485million agreement being sealed.

News of the delay came as MPs on the Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport heard evidence from Wembley's former project manager Tropus about the mismanagement which plagued the scheme under former chairman Ken Bates between April 1999 and December 2000.

Six months after Mr Bates was removed, Tropus produced a top-secret report for FA chief executive Adam Crozier. Details published for the first time last week in the Evening Standard showed such serious concerns that an independent inquiry was carried out by City troubleshooter David James.

He found no evidence of criminality or impropriety but his report caused the brakes to be put on the scheme last December and led to Ms Jowell's five tests being set. An edited memorandum from the Tropus report and the full details of the James report were made public for the first time today.

But with a lawyer representing Mr Bates present at today's hearing, witnesses were directed not to name individuals, even though parliamentary privilege would normally have protected them from legal action.

Despite that, David Hudson, chief executive of Tropus, outlined the main criticisms which his company believes have led to the fiasco.

When asked whether best practice had been followed by Wembley senior management team, Mr Hudson replied: "Absolutely not."

When asked about the way Wembley's builder, Australian company Multiplex, obtained the contract for the scheme, he said: "I believe there was preferential treatment given to one of the two contractors." This, he said, led to a massive escalation of costs.

Mr Bates has already rejected Tropus's criticisms. He said: "As far as we are concerned these people are of no consequence at all. They are trying to make a name for themselves.

"If what they are saying is true why should they not repeat it outside Parliament." He added the report was "totally one-sided and biased".

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