Where did the money go?

[saintjay77]

Im glad I am not the only person to have a gripe about Wembley.

 

Inside the stadium pitch side I was impressed. Looking around at so many seats and to watch them filled with Saints fans was amazing and had me smiling from ear to ear.

 

What I wasnt happy with was the constant excuses about non arrival of tickets only to ev entually have to get them from Wembley ticket office. Happy to finally have them in our hands we went to the turnstyles only to find out the tickets were blocked and to then be accused of having forged tickets. nearly an hour later we were finally sorted out and let in with another batch of tickets straight from the forgery that was Wembley ticket office.

 

Didnt have a look round inside till half time but was pretty hacked off to queue the whole time to find out that beer was no longer being served just before I got to the front. Ordered a large coke and went to pay with my card to be told they dont take cards at any of the machines. Looking above my head there was a ******* big sign saying they do accept cards. The "team leader" said there was naff all that could be done and they had put the wrong signs up. Looked like they had been there a while so I was miffed as to why no-one had either removed the signs or sorted out the effing tills.

 

Toilets were awful and there was barely room to fit behind the row of guys trying to take a leek to get to a space when one was available. I guess they forgot to fit the conveyer belt flooring in so men could join at the end and hope they have finished by the time the run out of room to P in.

 

There was only 2 cubicles in the same lavs and I was even more supised to see that was the only gents open in the block I was in.

 

For a national stadium that is meant to deal with massive events it was pretty poor in certain area's and that just left me thinking the event would have been better somewhere else.

[benjii]

I thought the stadium was pretty good, much better than I expected in some respects.

 

The walk up from the tube on Olympic Way side was pretty cool, loads of food outlets that seemed to be in line with 'normal' prices.

 

The turnstiles and searching were pretty standard and the escalators were cool - the seats, general lay out, and leg room was excellent.

 

We were right at the very back of 540 and the view was much better than I imagined, could clearly see the whole game and I managed to call the hand ball for the penalty from where I was sat!

 

PA was complete cack where we were but that's pretty much par for the course - concourses were pretty big but there did seem a limited number of loo spaces (whats with the cubicles?) but I didn't notice queueing to be any worse than usual.

 

At the end of the game I got from the back row of 540 to street level in less time than it takes me to get from the back rows of blocks 35-36 out of SMS! (and no stupid footbridge to queue over!).

 

Tubes back into London seemed to be well organised and I easily caught a train from St Pancras a full hour earlier than I had allowed for.

 

I don't really care what the food in the corporates is like, and anybody who relies on the stadium for food etc can expect to be ripped-off - it's what they do!

 

I paid £24 for my seat (same as I paid to sit in the rain at MK the week before) and I thought that was excellent value; programme was also very good for £5 too.

 

All-in-all I was pleasantly surpised and I thought Wembley was 'fit for purpose'.

 

Where did the money go? That's a whole new ball game - same place as all the money in this country has gone in the last 10 years - out of the pockets of ordinary people and into the pockets of the rich and the bent - HTH!

 

Agree completely.

 

I was impressed with the "customer experience" (for want of a better way to sum it up)... particularly in terms of getting in and out of the stadium.

 

The PA got on my nerves, not due to the sound quality, just due to the desire to squeeze some music in at all costs.

 

The food prices are astronomical but you know that in advance so get some food before or after. Simple. £4 a pint is roughly what you would expect to pay at most premium sports venues and is not much more than many pubs.

 

As to whether it was all money well spent.... I'm not sure. I think the Millenium stadium was uncommonly cheap though and comparisons between now and then are not really like for like. For starters the price of steel went up massively over the last few years and the cost of finance is obviously higher now also.

[Torres]

but there did seem a limited number of loo spaces (whats with the cubicles?) but I didn't notice queueing to be any worse than usual.

 

There are equal numbers of male and female toilet blocks but some of these are "rebadged" depending on the event. Therefore a few of the "mens" toilets were actually the women's.

 

 

It's the proximity to the city centre

 

If people think Wembley was expensive to build, imagine how much it would have cost in the middle of London! You'd have to demolish half of WC1 to fit it in....

 

Apparently the problems with the pitch at Wembley are due to incorrect stadium orientation that should have been taken into account in order to to maximize the amount of sunshine that the pitch is exposed to.

 

This was a MAJOR design flaw and is supposed to be a bit of a secret.

 

It's also untrue. The retracting roof is design to allow maximum levels of sunlight onto the pitch and the orientation of the ground was changed from old to new for the very reason of sunlight.

 

I think the Millenium stadium was uncommonly cheap though and comparisons between now and then are not really like for like. For starters the price of steel went up massively over the last few years and the cost of finance is obviously higher now also.

 

The Millennium Stadium is also tiny in comparison to new Wembley in terms of the size of the structure.

[CWD]

The biggest problem for me was how boring the concourses and escalator areas were! wish we could have had some pics of the 66 win, Shearer, Becks - at least something rather than the blank white walls!

[REDARMY79]

Is this thread about Illingsworth?

[The9]

The biggest problem for me was how boring the concourses and escalator areas were! wish we could have had some pics of the 66 win, Shearer, Becks - at least something rather than the blank white walls!

 

All of those things are in the ground level concourse.

 

I was pleased to note they rebadged the whole ground to cover up the previous FA Cup Winners that are usually listed around the inside, as 2008 may well have annoyed me (assuming they've updated it since I was there to watch Totton.

 

On the subject of "customer experience", I was in block 131, got served beer immediately (£4), and had one person ahead of me in the Programme queue 20 mins before kick off, but could only get into a loo "in time" by using the exit, or on a couple of occasions, accompanying my mate on crutches to the disabled toilet.

 

The "sit down" steward in our block was faultlessly smiley, but comically incompetent, on one occasion telling us to sit down for the entire duration of a Saints attack directly in front of us as the rest of the block leapt to their feet.

 

On leaving the ground, the world and his dog was stood still on the elevated walkway outside blocks L and M, presumably all headed down Olympic Way towards Wembley Park, and none of them went anywhere for some time. We headed across the crowd and down the side route towards Wembley (Central) / Green Man and were out of there in minutes with no crowds, but some people got so frustrated up top they decided to drop 20 feet onto concrete to get out of the logjam.

[Super_Uwe]

Wasn't it reported that next season's play-off finals were going to be in Cardiff due to the Champions League final being at Wembley?

 

Ah yes, good spot! Seems likely that may just be the League 2 final if they can't arrange something else at Wembley. But not confirmed yet...

[Barry the Badger]

In block 134 area I was really really impressed that I didn't once have to queue to get a beer.

 

Unfortunately this was tempered by the 20 minute queue for a p*ss.

 

They got the bars/toilet ratio slightly wrong methinks.

[RedAndWhite91]

Ah, so we've all found something to complain about. Everybody is happy at last.

[Badger]

I was amazed that from several blocks in the higher tier on the north west (549 for example) that the presentation area was not visible.

 

The presentation of any cup or trophy is an essential part of the occasion and should be visible to all.People do not pay good money,more for an FA Cup or Champions League Final to watch that part of the proceedings on a screen.

 

The presentation area was I believe visible from all seats at the old Wembley.It should have been an integral part of the design here too.Whoever designed it without that,and approved the design is an utter spastic in my view.

[Pennyred]

Overall not impressed with our National Stadium....

 

View from Row 14 in 135 was same as being in front three rows at SMS - would have understood if they'd been £24, but paid £34. Goal net obscured considerable part of pitch and pitch only looked 30 yds long but very wide.

 

Ladies loos were 50% blocked and unusable - remained like that throughout match - where were the toilet attendants? Never checked by any one, else they'd have locked them off.

 

Perhaps they were all outside in tabards refusing to answer sensible questions like 'how do I get out of here?' from people being nearly crushed by the sheer volume of people pushing in opposite directions. It took 40 minutes to get out from turnstile area to bottom of Dagmar Road. No indications or signage to show where exits down from the outside railed walkway were. And those blokes in tabards just looked over your head if you spoke to them.

 

All tempered by an excellent win, an astounding display of Saints support and a trophy for the cabinet

[70's Mike]

with all the complaints getting extra tickets for the play off final will be easy

[I remember Paul Rideout!]

Can I direct you to Meydan, the new Dubai racecourse, built for £123million? Now ok it is not a round stadium but even if it were it would have cost four times as much maximum. And that has floodlighting across two miles of track and a bloody cinema!!

 

Probably has a little to do with the fact that the average asian/filipino worker in the middle east gets paid a pittance (try

 

so speaketh the expat oil worker!

[The9]

Ah, so we've all found something to complain about. Everybody is happy at last.

 

I'm still more furious about their poxy consolation goal, FFS.

[The9]

with all the complaints getting extra tickets for the play off final will be easy

 

It will if it's between Swindon and MK Dons.

[hughieslastminutegoal]

I had it explained to me by a guy who was working on the project for the FA at the initial stages.

 

St Mary's £32m for 32k seats

Wembley = 90k seats approx

Diagramatically, make a triangle to simulate the rake of a 32k seater stadium, continue the rake upwards for the triangle of the second 32k, and up again for the third triangle of 32k.

Below these three triangles, there are 6 similar sized triangles supporting them, making 9 triangles altogether, costing (at St Mary's rates) approx 9x£32 million. So at the absolute minimum it would cost about £300m. Add the "roof" and the arch, the demolition..... budget for relaying the pitch every 6 weeks...

 

Even so, the contractor still lost a fortune on it.

[Legod Third Coming]

In block 134 area I was really really impressed that I didn't once have to queue to get a beer.

 

Unfortunately this was tempered by the 20 minute queue for a p*ss.

 

They got the bars/toilet ratio slightly wrong methinks.

 

Could that be because beer costs money that we p i ss away for free???

[Legod Third Coming]

I had it explained to me by a guy who was working on the project for the FA at the initial stages.

 

St Mary's £32m for 32k seats

Wembley = 90k seats approx

Diagramatically, make a triangle to simulate the rake of a 32k seater stadium, continue the rake upwards for the triangle of the second 32k, and up again for the third triangle of 32k.

Below these three triangles, there are 6 similar sized triangles supporting them, making 9 triangles altogether, costing (at St Mary's rates) approx 9x£32 million. So at the absolute minimum it would cost about £300m. Add the "roof" and the arch, the demolition..... budget for relaying the pitch every 6 weeks...

 

Even so, the contractor still lost a fortune on it.

 

Incredibly I looked all this up last night and the total bill was wait for it... £980million.

 

On top of this the contractors lost £48m.

 

Thus making our national stadium over a BILLION fecking quid!!!

 

So, tell me this.

 

Why did they not buy a farm just off the M40 and build a stadium, parking for 20,000 cars, a monorail into the ground like they have a Disneyworld and a train station with a link to London and Birmingham???

 

Just a thought, from someone who knows a shiphole when he sees one...

Edited 30 March, 2010 by Legod Third Coming

[Ewell]

Richard Hammond's engineering connections on National Geographic Channel is well worth a watch. It gives you some idea as to some of the thought processes, why certain decisions were made, and how much certain aspects cost.

 

http://www.natgeotv.com/uk/engineering-connections/videos/wembley-stadium

 

I think the new Wembley is great. It has its faults but any stadium that size is bound to have some. I have seen Metallica and Muse live there, several England matches and now Saints in a cup final.

 

I cannot wait for my next visit this May!

[buctootim]

Could that be because beer costs money that we p i ss away for free???

 

£1 a pint and £5 for a pi ss would bring more money in.

[Mr_Red]

The problem with Wembley is that they didn't decide what they would do and then stick to it. new people kept coming along and the plans kept changing. That's what makes things go overbudget. The fact that whoever was in charge always knew that the government couldn't let it fail meant that there was no pressure to make sure things didn't spiral. Unlike the Emirates, which was cheaper and built quicker.

 

 

This.

[RedArmy]

Straight up her nose...

[Professor]

Anybody wonder about the patch of sunlight contrasting with the deep shadows out of the patch of sun? Must surely affect the players.

[Alain Perrin]

The stadium wasn't actually as expensive as people make out. Pound for pound it cost about the same as the Millenium stadium.

 

The main difference being that:

- the land for Wembley cost £250m.

- roads and workings around the ground another £200m

 

In Cardiff there weren't those costs as all the land was owned by the council already.

 

Also the contractor got stung for a large part of it because they had a fixed price contract. That hurt, especially when they ordered the wrong sized steels expensive mistake!