Roy Hodgson has met senior Wembley executives in the hope that the England coach’s fears over the state of the pitch will be assuaged, with the national team hosting Slovenia six days after Sunday’s NFL match between Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas Cowboys.
Hodgson was heavily critical of the scheduling of the game, the third NFL match at Wembley this year, and his concerns are only likely to intensify as the Football Association continues to strike a difficult balance between maintaining cash flows and protecting the pitch.
Hodgson met Roger Maslin, managing director of Wembley Stadium, to inspect the pitch after a press conference on Thursday in which he expressed annoyance with the FA for not putting the needs of the national team before commercial interests. The England manager, at that stage unaware that the FA was about to announce three more NFL games for next season including one five days before an England qualifier, said the pitch was “not in the best of nick” and he was “a bit unhappy” with the situation.
“We will adapt and get on with it and hopefully in the future the pitch will recover to its normal level and when it has done that we will be better able to support this kind of activity,” said Hodgson.
In addition to three NFL matches next year, Wembley will also host two Rugby World Cup games in September. But unfortunately for Hodgson, “this kind of activity” is integral to maintaining Wembley’s business plan, particularly with crucial Club Wembley 10-year debenture renewals looming in 2017.
Far from dialling down its relationship with the NFL, the FA is increasingly keen on the prospect of luring a full-time London franchise to play in the stadium. In addition to the fee for the use of Wembley, American football is also seen as particularly lucrative in terms of concession and hospitality sales. If a full-time NFL franchise does come to London it would mean eight games a season, further increasing the chances of it affecting the pitch for England games. It could also lead to the national side going back out on tour, playing some friendlies and less attractive qualifiers around the country.
In the short term, there is confidence within the FA that a balance can continue to be struck and while not pitch perfect the Desso surface remains far superior to the badly scarred turf that was regularly criticised in the three years after the stadium opened.
During that period the pitch was relaid 11 times before the FA decided to invest £250,000 in a new surface that combined man-made fibres with natural grass. The decision followed a run of showpiece matches at the £757m national stadium that were affected by the pitch badly cutting up.
