The stadium's chief executive, Bob Stubbs, insists winning the right to stage the World Cup was never part of the business plan.

"Anyone who has been to Wembley recently knows the current stadium just isn't suitable for the 21st century and needs to be redeveloped," he said.

Although it would have been great to host the World Cup final so early in the new stadium's life, we have never included the World Cup in our business plan.

"Our business plan has always been based on the existing, known and verifiable events.

Stubbs added: "In straight financial terms, the World Cup would simply have meant an additional six games at the new stadium."