Wembley Stadium is the home of English football, but is it being used for too many football occasions by the FA?
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00:00 The new Wembley Stadium opened in 2007 and its cost was close to £800 million.
00:05 Clearly with such a large cost, the FA needed to pay off their debts.
00:09 As a result, Wembley has been used an awful lot for various footballing matches.
00:13 Firstly, unlike in other European nations, the majority of home England men's national team matches are played and have been played at Wembley.
00:22 Several other countries do not actually have a national stadium and only recently have games been played around the country.
00:28 Again, as they once were.
00:31 Furthermore, FA Cup semi-finals have all been staged under the famous arch.
00:36 This never used to be the case.
00:38 They will be held at neutral venues with consideration given to attending supporters, with Wembley and London often being a much larger journey away.
00:47 Nowadays, if a team wins their semi-final at Wembley in April, they will return there the next month for the final in May.
00:55 For some, however, Wembley is special and any trip there for any footballing occasion is worth its weight.
01:01 I myself have been there twice this year, once as a supporter and once as a reporter.
01:06 And on both occasions, the stature and size of the place give its use some merit.
01:11 So here we are, we're now on Wembley Way.
01:13 We're in the morning after.
01:15 Wembley Stadium there behind me with the famous arch.
01:17 Lots of supporters are here once again in great numbers already and it's not even midday yet.
01:21 Kick-off is not until half four.
01:23 We're now making our way up.
01:25 We're now in Wembley Stadium.
01:27 It's about 15 or 20 minutes before kick-off.
01:29 The atmosphere is good.
01:31 The Newcastle end is full.
01:32 My own head is still in a little bit of a full.
01:35 Teams are warming up.
01:37 Teams are now just warming up.
01:39 We're now doing rounds.
01:41 Wembley Stadium filling up with players.
01:43 [Cheering]
01:48 It's a front.
01:50 Get it good.
01:52 [Cheering]
01:57 [Singing]
02:02 We've got Bruno at the metal.
02:05 [Singing]
02:06 He knows exactly what we need.
02:09 [Singing]
02:10 The line is going to drop. The Gaff is going to win it from here.
02:13 When there as a reporter, I covered the FA Trophy final.
02:16 This in itself is a point of contention.
02:18 From one perspective, hosting this event at Wembley allows both the players and fans of non-league clubs to have their moment at Wembley,
02:26 where so many greats have played throughout the years.
02:29 However, the other viewpoint would suggest that even with all of their passionate supporters attending,
02:34 Wembley was nowhere near full and perhaps using a smaller venue would create for a better atmosphere for supporters to be part of and the players on the pitch to embrace.
02:46 Perhaps once Wembley is fully paid for, we will see changes from the FA,
02:54 but for now, we will have to be content with the arch and the stadium being the focal point for English football and its major competitions and finals.