Annex A
Letter, 7 January 2000, from the then
Secretary of State to the Chairman of WNSL
ENGLISH NATIONAL STADIUM AND ATHLETICS
We should place on record our discussion and
the conclusions we reached when we met on 22 December.
We agreed that while it is feasible to hold
international athletics events at Wembley this would nonetheless
be an expensive compromise rather than an ideal solution, and
there would be advantage to football, rugby and athletics if the
last were removed from the Wembley formula and provided for in
some other way. There is no doubt that Wembley is the best option
for a national stadium for football/rugby and that the Foster
design will result in the greatest football/rugby stadium in the
world.
The FA had suggested a payback of £20 million
if the requirement to stage athletics were removed. The money
would need to be repaid as quickly as possible. You made it clear
that it would be difficult for the entire sum to be repaid instantly.
After discussing various possible options for
repaying £20 million over a period, it was agreed that the
best would be to commence repayments in year 2000, paying £3
million per annum in each of 2000, 2001 and 2002, £5 million
in 2003 and £6 million in 2004. However, the FA would use
its best endeavours to repay faster as money started to come in
from Wembley earlier, and particularly as soon as corporate boxes
started to be sold which could be as early as September 2000.
I should be grateful if you would confirm that
this is an accurate record of the main points of our discussion
and of the agreement we reached. I am copying this letter to Geoff
Thompson at the Football Association.
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