Wembley may go ahead 'without state cash'

The Football Association is ready to build a national stadium at Wembley without government money, it is reported today.

The FA needs only the "tacit support" of the Government to persuade the financial world that its preferred scheme, to build a stadium at Wembley rather than Birmingham, can be achieved.

An FA insider told the Financial Times: "We want the Government to be supportive of the notion but absent from the actual process. The financial community would welcome the Government's absence because, to make the banks happy, only tacit support is needed. We also need a pledge that, once this thing gets going, the Government will not interfere."

Confusion over government support for and interference in the original Wembley plans are believed to have scuppered the project last year when the FA could not persuade the City to lend it the money for the stadium.

The FA has now revised the terms of its scheme. Stadium builder, Multiplex, will shoulder the risk associated with raising £300million, it is understood. The FA is reported to be prepared to invest £100 million, which will be underpinned by income from the sale of premium seats.

The FA has already spent £120 million of National Lottery money acquiring the Wembley site. But the Government has yet to back the plans, which will allow the FA to begin raising funds.