Arsenal 'cannot play at Wembley'

13 April 2012

Arsenal will not be ground sharing at the redeveloped Wembley stadium, according to Sir Rodney Walker.

The new chairman of the Wembley National Stadium project said today that the idea had been "blown out of proportion".

He said: "I had one brief phone call with a director of Arsenal before Christmas as part of a general information-gathering exercise. I am astonished that this has been so blown out of proportion. Equally, I have met with literally dozens of interested parties at much greater length.

"I felt I had to act quickly over the issues surrounding athletics to remove uncertainties from the project. Those who feed such idle gossip must be aware that they are undermining the future of Wembley."

The notion of relocating to Wembley was fraught with problems anyway.

It would face vehement opposition from within sport and from politicians. The English Sports Council would be forced to withdraw the £100 million Wembley is due to receive from Lottery funding because rules stipulate that the National Stadium cannot have a resident club.

There is also the considerable problem of the planning permission, which has been granted to Wembley by Brent Council. It specifies that there can be no more than 19 football matches staged there a year. Arsenal would want to play up to 30 games.

The club are committed to leaving Highbury, their home since 1913, because it cannot hold sufficient fans and cannot be extended and modernised because it is hemmed in by streets and because the East Stand is a listed building.

Arsenal first considered moving to the new Wembley early in 1998, a story first reported by Standard Sport, but decided instead to build a £100m stadium at Ashburton Grove, which is a five-minute walk from Highbury.

Although the club remain confident of getting planning permission for their new home, they face opposition from a group called the Islington Stadium Communities Alliance. They have been campaigning against the plans for Ash-burton Grove and claim that building a new ground on the 25-acre industrial site earmarked by Arsenal will destroy local businesses and lead to 1,100 redundancies.

Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wants his team to toughen up if they are to rekindle their title challenge and ensure Champions League football next season.

Arsenal have been criticised in the past two seasons for their disciplinary record but Wenger said: "We definitely have a lack of aggression. I am more used to defending my team for being too aggressive. I cannot cope with the present situation.

"Suddenly, everybody is nice on the field. That is not football. We need everyone to be more aggressive and you could see that against Chelsea last week. It was down to the team as a unit. That is what we have to redress first. I prefer to defend my team for showing too much aggression and I cannot understand a lack of it."

The runners-up spot that appeared to be Arsenal's for the taking is now in jeopardy. Sunderland have moved ahead of them in the Premiership and Wenger said: "We are third at the moment but we won't stay there very long if we do not improve results.

"We need to start concentrating on the way we play rather than focus too much on the results. They will come if we are playing in the right way."

Defender Tony Adams and striker Dennis Bergkamp could figure in tomorrow's game at Leicester.

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