End of the Olympic dream for new Wembley

Seven years without scoring, and suddenly a goal at Wembley. But whether it turns out to be an own goal or a golden goal is now in the lap of the banks, and the builders.

With the JCBs poised to move in at 11am sharp tomorrow there seems little point in digging up the past. We are assured that Wembley's rocky horror show is over, and the new beginning will end beneath the triumphant arch in May 2006 with a resplendent new stadium – the most expensive in the world to erect and in which to watch – ready for the kick-off of that year's FA Cup final.

Those who can afford £200 to £300 to luxuriate in club-class leg-room won't need to bring their own prawn sandwiches; The Football Association, whose plan has been determinedly driven through by their chief executive, Adam Crozier, now hope the sniping will cease and rebuilding will result in a stadium of which England, the team and their fans, can be proud. But will it truly be the National Stadium?

That was the original gameplan, but it is unlikely that Wembley will ever see any sport other than football and the occasional outing for rugby leaguers. There will be the facility for an athletics track to be installed, which cleverly protects the £20m of Lottery money so blithely lobbed in Wembley's direction by Sport England – and the subject of severe parliamentary censure – but there is little chance of any athletics event ever being held there.

Significantly, there has been no response from UK Athletics to confirmation of the £757m Wembley Stadium deal. No welcoming statement, no indication of pleasure. Could this be because athletics is less than happy with the outcome?

The fact is that athletics sees no use for Wembley but does not wish to rock the boat or jeopardise the £40m the sport has been been promised (but not yet received) from the Government for the shameful loss of the 2005 World Championships. I understand there is no desire on the part of UK Athletics to see athletics ever staged at Wembley. One insider told me: "They can do what they like with the platform track, but it will never be used."

In any case it appears to be a token track incorporated into the design to ensure the expedient Lottery bung does not have to be handed back, as a parliamentary report has demanded. With no short-term prospects of a major international event in this country, athletics prefers to await the outcome of negotiations in respect of a London Olympic bid for 2012, which could bring a purpose-built stadium to east London.

It has been confirmed to me that Wembley, which hosted the last London Olympics in 1948, cannot be the focal point if there is another Games in the capital. It simply isn't suitable. While it may become the national football stadium, it will never be the National Stadium as projected before the seven-year hitch; or Britain's Olympic Stadium, as Simon Clegg, chief exec-utive of the British Olympic Association, explained.

"I am delighted and relieved that Wembley is to be built at last. I am sure it will be a marvellous stadium for football. But it will not be the site of any Olympic track and field events, or opening or closing ceremonies. The seating would have to be reconfigured to accommodate a temporary platform track for athletics and there would not be sufficient left to meet the requirements of the International Olympic Committee."

Clegg added: "We have always said, and the London mayor, Ken Livingstone, agrees, that any future Olympic bid would be focused on a regeneration plan for the east end of London. That's where any Olympic village would be, and it would not be feasible to transport thousands of competitors and officials from one side of London to the other to stage events at Wembley. However, Wembley could be used for the football final and some of the preliminary matches."

The BOA say that any Olympic football tournament here would embrace the entire British Isles, with matches held in Scotland, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Manchester.

Of course, an Olympic bid for 2012 or later remains uncertain. Said Clegg: "At the moment we are concentrating on convincing the Government of the benefits of bidding. We are pleased that the issues surrounding Wembley are finally resolved, because it can be integrated into any future Olympic bid, though not as the Olympic Stadium."

Britain will need to indicate to the IOC early next year whether it is likely to bid, and the BOA hope to have a Cabinet decision by January.

By then, after the most famous signing since the Magna Carta, New Wembley should be taking shape. But will it be the cash cow that the FA predict, or a white elephant, as sceptics believe? A monument, perhaps, to a game already living beyond its means, and the ego of its ambitious chief executive?

More worryingly, Wembley's rebirth comes courtesy of German money and Australian expertise. Now the great British workman is about to get involved.