Former chairman of Wembley National Stadium Limited Ken Bates tells Johnny Phillips why the FA should not consider selling Wembley.

One of the key figures involved in the building of Wembley Stadium has launched a blistering attack on the Football Association, in the wake of a proposed sale of the stadium to billionaire Shahid Khan.

Ken Bates was chairman of Wembley National Stadium Limited between 1997 and 2001 and oversaw the initial stages of the project to build the country’s national stadium.

“I’m saying it must not be sold. The FA are just the custodians of the national game for the people of this country,” says Bates.

“They have no moral authority to sell it as it doesn’t belong to them. The directors of the FA are just passing through, they are the trustees. How dare they even consider selling it. The FA never had a proper home until we got Wembley.”

Khan – who has made an offer believed to be in the region of £800m – says he hopes to complete the purchase of Wembley in the next eight to 12 weeks. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham owner said that England games would remain at the venue and that the name would be retained, but Bates believes that once the stadium is sold, there will be no guarantees.

“Talk is cheap, we’ve heard that sort of thing before haven’t we?” Bates adds. “I have not heard an upside to this yet. It’s ridiculous. If we went and bought Madison Square Garden in New York and said ‘oh, we’re happy for the Americans to have their teams playing there when they want’, do me a favour – can you imagine that? I would suggest Mr Khan concentrates on getting Fulham back into the Premier League.”

Get more news about kids replica football kits cheap, please visit http://www.billsoccer.com/.