KEIR RADNEDGE COMMENTARY —- The Empire Stadium, Wembley, is one hundred years old. It threw open its doors, gates and turnstiles for the first time a century ago on April 28, 1923. The odd point is that it was supposed to be a mere temporary edifice. Then it would be demolished to make way for hundreds of homes. Now it may be considered just one home: the Home of Football.

Wembley had been built not for football or even for sport but for the great cultural and scientific extravaganza of the Empire Exhibition of 1924. The Empire Stadium was built in only 300 days at a cost of £750,000. A battalion of soldiers marched across the terracing to ensure it was safe to open only four days before the 1923 FA Cup Final.

Fans, for the one and only time, could attend on the day. Perhaps 200,000 rather than the expected 100,000. Hence the fans swarmed onto the pitch before being pushed back by mounted police including Constable George Scorey on his famed white horse, Billy. Almost lost in the fervour, Bolton won 2-0. The historic first goal was scored by England inside forward David Jack.

Wembley brought extra lustre to the FA Cup Final, the grandeur of a national occasion. Royal patronage too. King George V had cut the first turf and Queen Mary chose her favourite church hymn, Abide with Me, for the pre-match community singing in 1927. The hymn survives.

The twinning of Wembley and the FA Cup has been broken only by war and the seven-year rebuild between 2000 and 2007.

Cup final dramatics enhanced the Wembley legend: 1927 saw the only Welsh success with Cardiff beating favourites Arsenal after a mistake by the Gunners’ Welsh goalkeeper Dan Lewis; 1933 saw teams wear numbers for the first time, Everton 1-11 and Manchester City 12-22; 1938 saw Preston’s George Mutch mark television’s debut with the first Wembley final penalty in extra time to earn a 1-0 win over Huddersfield.

Injury jinx

After the war the FA Cup Final remained the annual pinnacle of Wembley’s football schedule. The 1950s saw a sequence of injury-jinxed showpieces including the dramatic [Stanley] Matthews final of 1953 and Manchester United’s defeats in 1957 and 1958. United’s upsets by Aston Villa and Bolton were separated by the tragic gash of the Munich air crash.

In 1957 they had been within 90 minutes of becoming the first league and FA Cup ‘double’ winners of the century until Villa forward Peter McParland smashed Ray Wood’s jaw in the days before substitutes. Double delight was first tasted, instead, by Danny Blanchflower’s magnificent Tottenham in 1961.

Tottenham claimed more Wembley glory in 1981 when Ricky Villa slalomed through the Manchester City defence for the finest individual goal at the old stadium.

In 1990 Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat of Aston Villa brought down the curtain on 77 years of history. But Wembley’s lustre survived a seven-year soap opera of controversy over ownership, demolition and a rebuilding project which nearly bankrupted the Football Association. Public debate swirled around the cost (£798m), the destruction of the famous twin towers and even whether a national stadium should be in London at all.

Hidden arch

Rebuilding had been long overdue. The new Wembley, which welcomed back the FA Cup Final in 2007 with Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat of Manchester United, is far from perfect. The fans’ view is a great improvement on the old shallow terracing but the stadium and even its emblematic arch are hidden behind neighbouring tower blocks.

Also, contrary to myth, Wembley has been England’s permanent home only since the 1950s. In 1924, one year after its chaotic opening, it hosted a 1-1 draw between England and Scotland but the oldest international rivalry was all it saw and even that was staged only every other year.

No-one else was welcome. Hence the 4-3 winning thriller against Hugo Meisl and Matthias Sindelar’s Wunderteam in 1929 was played at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal hosted the rugged 3-2 win over newly-crowned World Cup winners Italy in autumn 1934 and a year later it was Tottenham which hosted the politically delicate 2-0 win over Germany.

Thus the illusion of Wembley invincibility against continental opposition – destroyed by Ferenc Puskas’s Hungary in 1953 – rested on a sequence of only three internationals against non-British and Irish teams.

The shattering 6-3 defeat imposed by the Magical Magyars has come to symbolise England’s fading power in both world sport and politics. Then a second Wembley defeat, to Agne Simonsson’s Sweden in 1959, preceded an eventual learning of lessons.

World Cup triumph

A year later England manager Walter Winterbottom introduced a 4-2-4 system with Bobby Robson and Johnny Haynes as midfield pivots. A run of four matches which generated 26 goals and only six against was kicked off by a 4-2 Wembley win over a Spain led by Alfredo di Stefano.

Six years later Wembley took centre stage for England’s triumphant hosting of the World Cup.

For the world’s footballers the chance of playing at Wembley represents an opportunity to connect with the game’s history. Only the Maracana comes close in footballing mythology. Pele always regretted that he never played at Wembley. Michel Platini, too.

European club football had already landed at Wembley in 1963 with Gianni Rivera’s Milan beating Eusebio’s Benfica 2-1 in the Champions Cup. Two years later West Ham beat 1860 Munich in the Cup-winners Cup. To date Wembley has staged a record seven Champions League/Cup finals (next year will be eight) plus two in the European Championship and two in the defunct Cup-winners Cup.

That is the Wembley tradition: history laced with a guarantee of more to come.

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