Gareth Southgate is seeking a lasting legacy on the pitch as England manager but whatever happens at Euro 2020 his mark will be left on Wembley Stadium for years to come.
The 49-year-old’s meticulous attention to detail came to the fore at the 2018 World Cup and so it comes as no surprise that he wanted a say on the renovations to the national stadium, unveiled for the first time at Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final between Aston Villa and Manchester City.
With Villa designated as the ‘home’ team, it is particularly apt that one of Southgate’s previous clubs — the former centre-back played for Villa between 1995 and 2001 — will be the first to benefit from a redesign that features 28 individual booths, each with its own lighting, iPad holder and lockable compartment underneath the seat.
The dressing room orientation has been rotated 90 degrees with the seats curved in a crescent at one end, to promote greater inclusivity — which is also the thinking behind removing a wall through to the treatment tables so anyone receiving medical attention can still hear what the manager is saying.
A separate adjoining warm-up area links the dressing room, a space containing four cryotherapy baths — increased from one previously — to Southgate’s private room, complete with en-suite facilities and housing an 86 inch HD television linked by fibre optic broadband to analysts working elsewhere, thereby able to beam data straight back to the screen. “The modern day changing rooms are a lot more open plan,” FA chief financial officer Mark Burrows told Standard Sport.
“We’ve opened it out into a horseshoe. And now, if you are one of the guys on the treatment table you are still effectively in the same room as Gareth giving his instructions.
“These changes were very much driven by Gareth and his team. They came and said: ‘Look, if at some point you are doing this, we’d like it to look like this’.”
The area leading from the pitch down to the tunnel has been astroturfed to minimise the distance players have to walk on a slippery surface, while messaging will adorn the walls, which are interchangeable depending on use. For example, at Euro 2020, Wembley will technically be under Uefa’s jurisdiction as a neutral stadium; England will be able to use the home dressing room for their first two group stage matches but not the third against the Czech Republic.
The changes are part of a £9million upgrade which also features the first full relaying of the pitch in a decade. The surface comprising 4,500 tonnes of material contains Desso fibre underpinning the turf which if the total length was laid end to end, it would stretch one-and-a-half times around the world. Those involved in the detail at the FA believe it is the world’s first winter window pitch replacement, aided by the fortune of a relatively mild spell since work started in November.
Out of this world! the changing room which has been opened out into a horseshoe shape — complete with iPad docks — and new cryotherapy baths.
An updated sound system will also make its debut this weekend featuring speakers which can reach 142db one metre away — the makers claim louder than a jet aircraft when turned up to 11.
They will save a light show featuring 368 new floodlights each for next month’s internationals, given the evening kick-offs, and the complete package, also including improvements to the hospitality areas, is designed to return Wembley to the forefront of stadium experiences having been challenged across town by Tottenham’s new £1bn home. The stadium had dated to some extent — the old floodlights were not capable of flashing or even being turned off intermittently as they took too long to warm up again — while WiFi connectivity had been slow for some time prior to updating the technology.
Sustainability has been factored in, with the FA moving to a green electricity tariff with the removal of various plastics aims to save 1.3m cups per season and 4,000 bottles every game.
“If you want to get the Ed Sheerans and Coldplays to play here, you have to have the right stuff,” said Burrows. “We were falling slightly behind the times. Wembley was designed 20 years ago and built 15 years ago. Things like spotlights and speakers just date. They were becoming difficult to maintain.”
Burrows insists ticket prices will not increase to offset the outlay and that the cost is in line with the capital expenditure forecasts of £72m over six years projected when discussing the £600m sale of Wembley to Shahid Khan in 2018.
Further work is already underway with the pedways — two elevated walkways at the front of the stadium — being removed in favour of stairs and the installation of four lifts, aiming for completion this time next year.
By that time, Southgate will hope to have the 2022 World Cup firmly in his sights, the tournament former FA chairman Greg Dyke said England should target back in 2013. Deliver that and Southgate will be remembered in much more than bricks and mortar.
