Wales ready to move from Millennium Stadium

Jul 1 2010 by Chris Wathan, Western Mail

WALES are ready to ditch their Millennium Stadium home for the looming European Championship campaign, the Western Mail can reveal.

We understand the FA of Wales have agreed to accede to the wishes of John Toshack and his senior players by moving key qualifiers to smaller venues.

Wales are like to play two of their four home Euro 2012 games at Cardiff City’s new ground, probably the clashes with Bulgaria and Switzerland.

The match against Montenegro looks set to be switched to Swansea City’s Liberty Stadium.

But the huge cross-border showdown with old foe England will still be played at the 74,000 capacity Millennium to maximise revenue.

The Euro warm-up friendly against Luxembourg next month is likely to be played at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli.

Top-level talks have been going on behind the scenes for weeks about a possible change of venue, Wales having made the Millennium Stadium their home for qualifying matches since moving there in 2000.

Toshack, the players and the fans have put the FAW under pressure to make the move.

Having debated the pros and cons, we understand Wales are ready to rubber stamp the switch to smaller stadia.

An official announcement on the Bulgaria match, which will be played on Friday October 8, has to be made by early August, to fall in with Fifa’s 60-days notice ruling.

Wales’ players believe a 27,000 sell-out at Cardiff City Stadium will make a huge difference to their qualifying hopes. They argue playing in front of a three-quarters empty Millennium actually plays into the hands of the opposition.

However, it is understood the FAW have opted to stick with the Millennium for the England clash.

They know a probable sell-out crowd will guarantee a bumper cash windfall, money which can be ploughed back into the Welsh game.

The whole matter has already been debated by the FAW’s International Committee. Officials are fine-tuning the details with Cardiff and Swansea before they can make the move official.

The news will delight Craig Bellamy and his team, who have been openly critical about the Millennium and the state of the pitch.

The Welsh camp were also left incredulous when they were unable to train on the surface just days before the World Cup qualifying opener with Azerbaijan last year because of a recent music concert.

Players and management were impressed with the facilities at Cardiff’s Leckwith venue during last season’s 3-0 win over Scotland, the first international to be staged at the new ground.

Wales have also already played a number of friendlies at the Liberty.

But they are yet to play a competitive fixture at either venue, each of Wales’ home qualifiers being staged at the Millennium since they faced Norway in October 2000.

Since their opening game there against Finland in March 2000, Wales have won just 11 of the 34 games they have played at the Millennium.