You have to compromise if you want both.”
At the urging of the British Olympic Association and the athletics authorities, a frustrated Ms Hoey ordered an independent report on the plan which resulted in Mr Smith demanding a rethink of the entire Wembley project when it showed that the concrete scheme was economically and technically unviable “I can’t start all over again But if I could, I would,” said Ms Hoey at the time. “What we have here is not a national stadium but a national football stadium.”
After another heated meeting with Ken Bates, the Culture Secretary decided to read the riot act in public Behind the scenes negotiations had failed. On Wednesday he took the unusual step of making a statement in the House of Commons, giving Wembley two weeks to come up with solutions.
But this act of brinkmanship may backfire. Chris Smith wants a major part, if not all, of the lottery money refunded, while sources at Wembley say the company won’t hand it back without a protracted legal fight. Bates is adamant that the design fulfils the specification laid down by the last Government when London beat Manchester in 1996 as the site for the national stadium.
The Secretary of State’s options are limited.

He could take all the money away or spend part of it on a separate athletics stadium for the Olympics, possibly in a brown field site near King’s Cross. Or he could order Wembley to build the concrete platform for the 2005 World Athletics Championships. “We call it the embuggerance scenario,” an official said.
The options for the FA are not good either. The lottery grant was made on condition that the FA raised the rest of the money – currently £355m and rising – by the end of March 2000. City experts wonder if the new stadium can be paid for, even if it is given the go-ahead. Investec, the merchant bank, has been hired to raise the money. It is favouring a bond issue, secured on the income from the stadium, essentially a mortgage.

The interest alone would be £25m a year, but that is twice the entire income of the stadium last year at a time when it was used not only for England games and Cup finals in football and rugby league, but also for rugby union internationals.
According to a leading banker who has been close to the Wembley deal, the only way the stadium can be financed is to increase ticket prices for all events there. “I estimate that the minimum ticket prices will be £100 for England games,” he said. Inevitably, not for the first time, the loser in the Wembley fiasco is likely to be the ordinary fan.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TWIN TOWERS
By Jonathan Thompson
28 APRIL 1923 The Empire Stadium, Wembley, is opened. It was built as the main attraction for the Empire Exhibition of 1924, cost £750,000 and took 300 working days to complete.
MAY 1923 The first event is held as 200,000 fans see Bolton beat West Ham 2-0 in the FA Cup final.
JULY-AUGUST 1948 Wembley hosts the Olympics.
1963 Muhammad Ali’s world heavyweight battle with Henry Cooper takes place.
30 JULY 1966 England beat West Germany 4-2 in the World Cup final, thanks to a hat-trick from Geoff Hurst.
29 MAY 1968 Manchester United become the first English team to win the European Cup, beating Benfica 4-1.
1982 The Pope visits.
1985 Live Aid concert raises millions for famine relief.
JUNE 1996 Euro 96 is held in England. Wembley plays host to many matches, including Germany’s semi-final penalty shoot-out victory over England.
DECEMBER 1996 Wembley beats Manchester in bidding for a new National Stadium; £120m of Lottery money is made available.
JUNE 1998 Cost of new stadium now estimated at £240m.
11 MARCH 1999 Wembley is sold to an FA-backed consortium for £103m.
29 JULY 1999 Lord Foster unveils his new design, featuring four 136-metre white steel masts in place of the twin towers.
12 NOVEMBER 1999 The masts are thrown out because of concerns over similarity to the Stade de France Instead, the centrepiece is to be a 133-metre-high arch.