[14 NOV 01]

The city of Coventry will have a new football stadium. The long wait is nearly over.

We are still waiting for the Football Association to finally resolve the issue of the siting of the new national stadium, but that has moved a fateful step closer to a solution.

FOLESHILL GAS WORKS - NEXT HOME FOR THE NEW NATIONAL STADIUM?

The team working on Coventry’s national stadium bid have got their retaliation in first, responding to leaks to the media that the Government task force had listed the three competing sites with Wembley in first place, Birmingham second and Coventry third.

The Coventry response is that the task force has mysteriously more than doubled the price tag required to build the stadium in Coventry, partly by loading it with a totally unnecessary “contingency” budget – “in case things go wrong” – and by adding what can only be described as the Wembley weighting.

By artificially inflating the only rival bid that could possibly work – the Birmingham bid having been proven to be impractical and untenable on both cost and planning grounds – the “keep it in London” brigade are inevitably protecting their own interests.

Wembley fails on every test the Government could pose – but remember, so did the Dome at Greenwich and so does the proposed new Coventry 'super-hospital' at Walsgrave, yet the former was built regardless and, regrettably, the same will happen to the latter. The Dome was a disaster for the public purse just as the new hospital will prove to be a massive own-goal for health care in Coventry.

In both cases, apart from other considerations, the location is just plain wrong. So it will be for a new national stadium to be built at Wembley.

Oh, I know the traditionalists will point to history and the romantic association with all that happened under the old twin towers. After experiencing one of the truly memorable moments of my life there in 1987, I fully understand and appreciate that argument.

But we all have to accept that time moves on.

The nation demands something better than Wembley provided. A modern stadium in a location easily accessible by all. Where better than at the heart of the nation – Coventry (and much better at the heart than the armpit, eh Birmingham?)?

When I interviewed Coventry City Council Leader, Councillor Nick Nolan, about all this for Sky Sports News, he told me that the FA and its Chief Executive Adam Crozier were vacillating and he implied, very clearly, that Coventry was the victim of a stitch-up by the powers that be.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of all this – and I agree with Nick Nolan that Coventry has hardly been treated fairly thus far – it means that Coventry City Football Club and its long-suffering faithful are still no nearer realising the dream of their own new stadium.

Except they are. While all the politicking and wrangling over the national stadium has been going on, there has been a lot of work behind the scenes to prepare for the building of a new home for the Sky Blues – either at the old Foleshill Gas Works site if the national stadium doesn’t want it – or at an as yet un-named alternative location if we do win the national venue battle.

In fact, I understand that had the FA made their announcement last month as originally planned, work would have already started to build the replacement for Highfield Road.

As it is, the anticipated time-scale is for an FA decision before Christmas with the construction of a new stadium for the City under way early in the New Year.

I know that rumours continue to the effect that “it will never be built” or “I’ll believe it when I see it”, but I don’t believe it will be too long now before we all see something tangible as a reward for our patience.

As for the latest gossip on the pub circuit that a “For Sale” sign has gone up at the gasworks site, there was nothing of the sort there when I visited it this week, other than notices that have been erected for months indicating the uncertain and dangerous nature of the place in its present state.

Lets hope that we will soon see it gain a reputation of uncertainty and danger for visiting teams.