Pulis for England! Honestly, I'd rather have him pick a side of 6'7" nutcases than a bunch of unmotivated, overpaid idiots run around like headless chickens. Edit: Might be exaggerating Only slightly though!
Roy is clearly unhappy with the smell on his finger...where's it been Roy? please log in to view this image
Gary Lineker, BBC Sport England 1-1 Republic of Ireland "The punters sitting in the Club Wembley seats should give their tickets to someone who'd like to watch the game, and stay in the bar." Always liked Gary
Haha, yeah I hate seeing those empty seats at Wembley everytime we play. They're mostly complimentary seats though, given out to companies as the build went so far overbudget. Also, if I'd gone I'd probably rather sit the bar than watch the game, I'm growing a real dislike for watching England these days.
I remember why I stopped watching England friendlies and qualifiers many years ago... based on the 10-15 minutes I just watched; I think I would have preferred to gouge my eyes out. That was dreadful!
Someone with a massive salary probably decided where these seats were going to be put, sat them opposite the cameras and it didn't occur to them that this would happen! Are there similar corporate seats under the cameras too? If not, any guessing if the person concerned either (1) got sacked or (2) got a big bonus? As for the budget, I have no idea why major national infrastructure projects like this always go massively under budget. Has had all sorts of implications with the FA not financing other stuff it should have done. Mind you I think the millennium stadium was done for a fraction of the cost (on a seat by seat basis). And why is it at Wembley at all? And apparently they weren't able to save the twin towers from the old Wembley, which of course must have been a matter of budget (regardless of the excuse they used), which I suspect was a fraction of the amount they overran anyway. It also seems like the budgetary controls are applied at the wrong level. My wife's NHS department saved, well pence, by not issuing her with a diary any more (which she actually needs quite badly), yet the NHS computer systems go billions over budget. And don't get me started on MoD procurement!
The Club Wembley seats are the whole middle ring - all round the stadium, plus the whole block below the Royal Box which is directly opposite the TV cameras. That block is the 'Bobby Moore' section and was ridiculously expensive. Most of the Club Wembley seats, along with the corporate boxes, were sold on 10 year deals during construction of the stadium. I think there are over 10,000 of them and they cost more than £10k on average for the ten year licence (which simply entitles you to buy tickets to sit in them for each of the ten years) so they raised more than £100m towards the cost of the stadium. The FA couldn't have raised the funds to rebuild Wembley without them. I've got two of the cheaper ones. I always use mine or give them to a friend if I can't make a match. In my experience they are actually occupied mostly by 'proper' fans, but I guess the people with enough of a wad to afford the Bobby Moore section probably just don't bother as much to pass their seats on and are also likely to have business colleagues with them at the match so end up over-staying at the bar at half-time.
Thanks PS for the facts. Unfortunately it doesn't take much to get me started when it comes to such things. Incidentally - Millennium Stadium less than £200 million, Wembley more than £750 million. But we do get the arch (!) If that was on an American stadium there would be some kind of lift or ride you could take over the arch.
I enjoyed it too, but it did remind me of a comment that a previous friend made many years ago about the band Dire Straits. Well played crap!
