Soccer: Birmingham to open talks on new ‘Wembley’

Birmingham City Council is to open talks with the Football Association and the British Government about an alternative venue for the new national stadium to replace Wembley, it emerged today.

The move comes as the Wembley project was thrown into doubt after the Government yesterday said it would not bank roll the shortfall in funding for the multi-million pound scheme.

The Government said it was still committed to the idea of a national stadium and would work with sports authorities to seek a way forward.

However, if the Wembley project failed, council leaders in Birmingham said the city would be in a position to consider an alternative bid.

The local authority’s deputy leader, Councillor Andy Howells, said: ‘‘Birmingham and our neighbouring authorities have an excellent track record of delivering major development projects on time and within budget.

‘‘The Midlands has the advantage of being easily accessible with good transport infrastructure already in place.

‘‘Indeed Birmingham is the perfect site for such a stadium on both planning and business grounds.

‘‘We will be talking with the Government and the Football Association and if there is an opportunity to put Birmingham forward as an alternative site for the National Stadium, we would certainly be interested in putting together a new bid.’’