On This Day – 7th October
The last football match to ever be played under the twin towers at Wembley took place on this day back in 2000.
England stuttered to a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Germany in the pouring rain, with Liverpool’s Didi Hamaan scoring the winner with a long-range free kick.
England manager Kevin Keegan resigned from his role after the game. He gave an honest interview in the Wembley tunnel after the game, admitting that he just wasn’t good enough for the job.
It could be said that this was poor timing as England were due to play away to Finland just four days later.
The famous national stadium had been standing for 77 years, but had been falling apart for some time. Views from the seats were poor around a lot of the stadium, with both areas behind the goals being rather a long way from the pitch.
The facilities were notoriously bad as well, but people still look back on the days of the old stadium with the fondest of memories.
It took almost seven years for the new stadium to be completed. In that time, the major cup finals were played at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and England matches were played across the country. Old Trafford was used the most because it had the largest capacity, but Villa Park was used a fair bit too. Other stadiums to be used included Southampton’s St Mary’s, Sunderland’s Stadium of Light and West Ham’s Upton Park.
About Author
