Midlands favourite to be home of soccer

Birmingham has emerged as the front runner for the new home of England's international football events following a report to ministers showing it could be cheaper to build in the Midlands than completing the ill-fated Wembley project.

Ministers will publish the report by Patrick Carter on the competing bids by Wembley, Birmingham and Coventry, for consultation, but opinion inside the Government is already hardening for a historic move from the London site, the home of football for most of the last century.

Tony Blair has warned senior ministers that they cannot afford any repeat of the cost overruns that humiliated the Government over the Millennium Dome and the earlier Wembley project, which collapsed when the Football Association said it was unable to find the £660m needed to complete it.

"Tony has told ministers that we have had too many failures. We can't afford another," said a Whitehall source.

The Carter report, which will be stripped of the confidential financial figures when it is released, told ministers that the consortium behind the Birmingham bid claim they can undercut the Wembley project.

"They reckon they can undercut Wembley by at least 10 per cent because of the cost of development in London," said the source.

Plans for Birmingham's eye-catching 90,000-seat stadium project, which has a roof resembling a roller-coaster, were released on Friday.

Ministers were wary of ending the historic links of football with Wembley and its twin towers, but they have been emboldened by surveys of fans showing that they would support a move to a Midlands site.

"The main thing is they want better access," said the source. "The Birmingham bid is very impressive. They have a big chunk of land by the National Exhibition Centre, 30,000 car parking places, and they are close to airport and the rail links. Coventry is not in the same ball park."

David Beckham, the England skipper, also said he had "no preferences" over where the new stadium was built. England have played at a number of club venues in recent months, from Liverpool to Aston Villa, and there is a feeling the fans will readily accept the move to the Midlands.

A move to Birmingham will come as a devastating blow to the Football Association, which will have to pay back some of the money to the Government for the failed Wembley development.