Manchester Olympics 2012

[gary baldy]

With the Wembley debacle London has once again proved itself incapable of organising major events and managing large building projects. Dont worry though , its not too late to move the Olympics to Manchester. Depite the southern mockers and doubters we pulled off an amazing Commonwealth games and we are willing to do the same with the Olympics. We wont be late and we wont waste billions of pounds of taxpayers money in the process.

[Drusilla1S]

I want you to imagine a six feet tall, cockney, red head blowing you a raspberry.

[Drusilla1S]

On a more serious note, I am embarrassed by the whole fiasco. There is too much effort to win events for London and yet no pride in seeing them through on schedule and within an agreed budget. I'm still recovering from my shame over the Millenium Dome and the River of Damp Squib celebrations for the year, 2000. Please don't rub it in too hard, you northern savage of a man.

[charliebaps]

Although the commenwealth games went well, the opening ceremony was an embarassment. A roll out of some coronation street actors that most people watching had no idea why they were there. My friend in Spain had no clue!!

[gary baldy]

An opening ceremony that had the Queen AND Grandmaster Flash!
Pure genius!
Only in Manchester.

[charliebaps]

I stand corrected!!!

[madein1978]

I think it will be a fiasco. We struggle when the snow comes down, so how will we cope with a really big major event such as the olympic games? It hasn't been held in the UK since 1948, the country was a very different place and it wasn't such a huge event. OK we had just had a war and it was a miracle it happened at all but nevertheless the country was different, it was run differently, people had a different outlook. I think I'll be on holiday that particular fortnight, and come back when its all over!!

[Drisgirl]

lol @ Drusilla.

However when they showed footage of the interior and the 'workforce' this morning my son and I burst out laughing - there was one workie sauntering past the camera and another visible in the distance.

When no-one in the world thought that any stadiums would be ready for the Athens Olympics they pulled it of.Why cant we do that in this country?

If the company have now entered their penalty clause (which I believe they have) I would have every builder in the UK bribed to come down because it sure beats �1m a day.

[chimney]

It is an Australian company behind the building so that might explain why it's taken 6 years to complete, the management are all moonlighting in bars across the capital.

Seriously though, Manchester did show it can cope extremely well with large event planning and London has once again been taken for a mug.

(p.s. I am southern)

[laurence2]

I'm from london tho now living in birmingham, its been a total farce from day one, its cost �760 million & rising, compare this to the stade de france �260 million.

it should of been built in birmingham as,

1, would of been more centralized for football fans etc.

2, better motorway/rail/ & international airport.

3, less than half the cost.

Yet the football association & goverment had to dig their heels in as in their eyes the national team had to be based in the capital.

ps why did the land for the new wembley cost �120 million does anyone know

[gary baldy]

Being non devisive for once choosing London for both the national stadium and the Olympics is always going to be problematic for many of the reasons i hate London at the the best of times. Its overcrowded, its unfriendly, it takes forever to get anywhere, nothing works very well and when it is it is cripplingly expensive, the traffic and parking is appaling (it can take the same amount of time to get from on side to other as i does to get to Manchester), the infrastructure is already overburdened and the Olympics will break it, and because it takes so long and cost so much to move things and people around the city big projects over run and end up costing several times what they should.
The national stadium should be in the Midlands and the Olympics should have gone to Manchester when we asked for them back in the early 90's.
The whole country (especially charities that rely on the Lottery) will suffer as we pour billions of pounds in to a big hole in London (again!)

[Gef]

Not an answer as such but just a few thoughts having read the previous replies.

There is no suitable athletics stadium in Manchester - a small one was built for the Commonwealth games but the track was removed afterwards.

I thought of Birmingham as well but have you tried getting there via the M6?

Most of the land surrounding the new Wembley is owned by another company and they are making money out of it as well. Tradition dies hard but perhaps it should have been built somewhere else.

I don't see it as a 'London' problem since it was all organised by the FA.

The company building Wembley finished the Olympic Stadium in Sydney a year ahead of schedule.

Sorry it's a total farce but I'm afraid I've had too many drinks to think clearly.

[rescuer]

It would have been far better if Paris had 'won'. The cost to the UK for the event being held in London will be ridiculously high -- which willbe a cost to be borne by all of us.

Had Paris won we would have benefited by visitors to the games saying in the UK and travelling to Paris on days when the events were of interest to them and teams from many countries would have set up training centres in the UK thus making a contribution to our economy.

And we would not look like nincompoops when -- as most surely will be he case -- stadiums etc will not be completed on time and what has been got ready will cost many times more than those mythical estimates.

[Loosehead]

I don't see how the failure of a load of Aussie builders is in any way related to our organisational abilities.

[Trojanfarce]

Much as it pains me as a Southerner, I have to pretty much agree with the content of both your posts Gary, though I'm not entirely sure who's fully to blame for the Stadium. The reasons you give for hating London are pretty well the same ones I had when I had to live and work there for umpteen years. It is without doubt the most unfriendly, dirty, threatening city in Britain, with people as prepared to spit at you as smile at you (though I think the spit option is at the forefront of most people's minds). A real ghetto mentality is emerging with the 'spirit of the blitz' well and truly dead. It's why I moved a long way a way.

I can't think of anywhere worse in Britain to hold the Games and the burden to those Council Tax payers will be more than Ken has said I reckon.

Quick thought: If they run the marathon through the centre of London, will the support vehicles get clobbered for the Congestion Charge?

[jno]

'London' isn't building Wembley. Unlike the Olympics (and unlike the government-promoted Millennium Dome), it's basically a private enterprise thing as I understand it. The Wembley workers aren't particularly Londoners either - there seem to be hordes of east Europeans. So I don't know that the various screwups are really any guide to past or future performances in British construction.