England’s travails against Norway echo around a half-empty Wembley

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/sep/03/england-norway-half-empty-wembley

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The band played on. And, depressingly, on. But the ever present parp of England’s musical accompaniment was just about the only thing that remained from the guarded optimism of the last time England fans gathered at Wembley, when more than 83,000 had seen Roy Hodgson’s men off to Brazil.

The pre-match mood at a half-empty £757m national stadium that is one of the finest in the world but remains some way from having a team to match could not have been more different. Its top tier was cordoned off and tumbleweed blew down Olympic Way before the match.

On the pitch, however, it felt like business as usual rather than the bright new dawn rather optimistically promised by the pre-publicity.

Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, whose presence together in midfield in that dead rubber against Costa Rica seemed to somehow symbolise the dashed hopes of the “golden generation”, were gone. But 4-4-2 was back. As were most of the players who failed in Brazil. Most worryingly, so too was the air of self-delusion that had been allowed to creep into Hodgson’s Brazilian post-mortem.

His programme notes referred, desperately, to the “potential” he had spied among his young charges in that dismal 0-0 draw against the already qualified Costa Ricans. And 15 of the 23 players selected by Hodgson had also been among those who were smuggled back into the country following their all too brief Brazilian sojourn. That number would have been higher still but for injuries.

Never mind the much-derided corporate “indifference” – the 17,000 Club England seats that are so important to Wembley’s business plan – there was a danger that the entire imposing bowl would echo to the sound of muted mumbling.

In the end there was relief among the FA blazers that the attendance topped the 40,000 mark by 181 fans, but it remained the lowest figure since the new Wembley opened seven years ago.

If there were points for marketing effort then England would be world beaters rather than also-rans. England’s players and manager were rolling out some of their best loved lines before a match that, ironically, had far more meaning than the last time the side pulled on their shirts in a World Cup tie.

The manager, the captain, the Football Association, the rights holding broadcaster, the official sponsors, even the somewhat plaintive and redundant touts at the foot of the Wembley Park tube station steps – all were sticking to the script.

“Every Match Matters” yelled the full page ads in the programme, as the FA tried to excite interest in not only Wednesday night’s brave new world but the home qualifying matches against San Marino and Slovenia that will follow.

“A new dawn, a new day, a new England” insisted ITV, desperately contemplating the prospect of having to go up against the Great British Bake Off with international football’s equivalent of a soggy bottom.

The players were singing from the same hymn sheet before the match. Rooney spoke of a “new chapter”, Raheem Sterling said it was time to “move on”, Jordan Henderson promised they would “step up”.

The tone from FA chairman Greg Dyke and Hodgson was one of respectful regret at the showing in Brazil followed by an insistence that things weren’t as bad as they seemed.

But the new Wembley, that towering 90s monument to Cool Britannia excess – its huge banqueting halls, endless corporate boxes and iconic arch - not for the first time felt out of kilter with the downbeat fare on the pitch.

Those ambling up to the office to buy a ticket at 5.30pm reported no queues and there was a funereal atmosphere on Wembley High Road. Inside, the PA announcer ran through his usual repertoire of bombastic introductions to nothing but silence.

Yet easy as it is to poke fun at the endless expanses of red empty seats around Wembley, some context is required. It is always remarkable to leave the ground at midnight and hear the jumble of accents planning their journey home. For how much longer remains to be seen.

Perhaps it might have made more sense to slash prices to a tenner, or let kids in for a quid. But any such scheme will never get off the drawing board in the FA’s brainstorming sessions because of the need for Wembley to pay its way.

The Club England managing director, Adrian Bevington, had spent the morning on Twitter trying to persuade fans not to give up on the national team.

But in the process he admitted that the idea of taking England games away from Wembley, on which there are still £200m in loans outstanding, was a non-starter. “We have to play games at Wembley to pay for the stadium and home games to meet broadcast contracts as well.”

So that’s that then. England fans are nothing if not perverse, however, and there was a defiance about the determination with which the packed lower tier got behind their (not so) new look England side. Yet at half time there was a smattering of boos amid the rush to the bars.

The ever-hopeful PA announcer tried to excite interest in winning a pair of “front row tickets” to the San Marino qualifier. Good luck with that.

As the second half wore on, Hodgson sat slumped on the bench wearing the grimace that had become so familiar in Brazil. The atmosphere picked up after Rooney celebrated taking on the captain’s armband with a goal from the spot and those present resolved to enjoy themselves regardless – even if the biggest cheers of the night were reserved for the reviled Mexican wave. There was even a debutant or two to cheer.

But as the match ambled to a conclusion, you could almost hear the sound of those touts on the steps of Wembley Park underground station sobbing ahead of a qualifying campaign that looks a hard sell for all sorts of reasons.