Wembley 'ready for 2007 FA final'

The Football Association expects the 2007 FA Cup final in May to be held at the new Wembley despite the builders saying it will not be ready in time.

Multiplex said the £757m north London stadium will not open until June.

It was due for completion in August 2005, but hold-ups have led to events, such as this year's FA Cup final, being rescheduled and played in Cardiff.

An FA spokesman said no plans have been made to book the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for the 2007 final.

An FA spokesman said: "Further to conversations with Wembley National Stadium Limited (WNSL), the FA remains confident that Wembley Stadium can be ready for this season's FA Cup final.

"This is of course dependent on when stadium constructors Multiplex meets all of its contractual obligations.

"WNSL believes it is unlikely that Multiplex will complete their work by September but they continue to expect practical completion to take place before the end of 2006."

He added: "We do have to factor in that Multiplex have, to date, missed all key deadlines."

Multiplex said Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL), which owns the venue, needed to stage test events so the stadium could gain the required licences and approval to operate.

'Muddy the water'

Multiplex director of communications Peter Murphy told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The problem at the moment in terms of when the stadium becomes operationally complete, or reaches practical completion, really surrounds commencement and completion of the client works.

"So at this stage, Multiplex as builder is reliant upon our client, WNSL, completing a series of critical works to get us through to the point where we're capable of actually hosting or running test events and, at this stage, we're unclear and we haven't been informed by WNSL when in fact they'll commence and complete those works."

But a spokesman for WNSL dismissed claims the stadium would not be ready until June.

He added that Multiplex was trying to "muddy the water" between the dates for practical and operational completion and said WNSL had always insisted it could not organise test events until Multiplex had reached practical completion.

It was only then that a safety certificate could be issued that would enable the stadium to open at full capacity, he said.

From : BBC