Post by QPR Report on Dec 15, 2008 8:30:51 GMT
No disrespect to Preston, but if put it there, will presumably get less viewers. Maybe Liverpool or Manchester would be good options also.
The Times: Martin Samuel - The Debate: The National Football Museum: Wembley versus Preston
Proud place, Preston. The next St Petersburg, according to Karl Marx, although he was hardly infallible when it came to predictions. Charles Dickens visited during the industrial revolution and his experiences are said to have inspired Coketown, the fictional backdrop for his novel, Hard Times.
Midway between London and Glasgow, many have passed through Preston over the centuries: the Romans, Bonnie Prince Charlie, the M6. And therein lies the problem. Most reach Preston and keep going: to the Lake District, to Blackpool, south to the capital. It is not the type of place that inspires a stay. The National Football Museum is there, too; though not that many know it.
The National Football Museum is another of those projects over which a committee presides in the pretence that London is not the hub of England. It is housed at Deepdale, home of Preston North End and the oldest operational football stadium in the world. Rich in significance and nostalgia, low on passing trade. There is no charge for entry, yet the most recent attendance figures state that in the year until June 2007 there were 106,000 visitors: to a free museum about a sport that is a global phenomenon, housing some truly exceptional exhibits.
There is now a move to build a national football museum at Wembley, supported by the FA and Football League. Mark Hendrick, MP for Preston, calls it obscene. “The Football League are turning their backs on a wonderful museum, situated in their home town at one of the League’s founding clubs,” he said, which sounds very grand and evocative, but utterly fails to take into account that the point of a museum is to get as many through the door as possible, and no way can that be achieved in Preston.
Sorry. That’s the deal. The capital gets gridlock, unaffordable houses, overpopulation, pollution and a lousy standard of living, but, on the upside, if you want to stare at a Titian or the Rosetta Stone, it is the place to be. The National Football Museum, like all projects of historical worth, has to be based where it is accessible. That is why there is a Tate Modern; not a Tate, Preston.
Debate: Where do you think the National Football Museum should be: Preston or London - and why?
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/martin_samuel/article5342250.ece?openComment=true
Lancashire Evening Post 11 December 2008
By Mark Hookham - 'Keep the football museum in Preston'
The chairman of the Football League has provoked fury after suggesting that the National Football Museum should move from Preston to Wembley.
Lord Brian Mawhinney, former chairman of the Tory Party, reportedly told MPs more people would be able to see the museum's iconic collection if it was based in London.
Preston's Labour MP Mark Hendrick described the comments, made during a session in Parliament, as "obscene" and "bizarre".
The remarks have lifted the lid on years of simmering tension between the Football League and the much-loved museum at Deepdale.
The LEP can reveal that:
l The Football League has consistently refused to make any financial contribution to the museum.
l It has repeatedly snubbed a long-standing invitation to take up a seat on the board.
l The director of the museum is not aware of any visit by Lord Mawhinney since he took up his post in January 2003.
Mr Hendrick used this week's evidence session of the all-party Parliamentary football group to press Lord Mawhinney on why the Football League is not more supportive of the museum – and was stunned when Lord Mawhinney said it should not even be in the city.
Lord Mawhinney reportedly said he wanted the museum at Wembley.
Labour backbencher Clive Betts, who saw the heated exchange, said: "Brian Mawhinney said: 'I think the national football museum should be at Wembley. There is no space for two, and with the museum at Wembley a lot more people would be able to see it and we would be able to get more income from the Wembley tour'."
A furious Mark Hendrick told the LEP: "I am worried about an organisation based in Preston that has done little to support the museum and a chairman who pays no attention to the history or the heritage of the game of which he is one of the authority leaders."
Museum boss Kevin Moore said he has never been given a formal reason why the Football League refuses to take a seat on the board.
The FA Premier League, PFA and FIFA all have representation.
He said: "We're disappointed. We would very much like them to be on our board."
He added: "Many members of the Football League are supportive of the museum being in Preston. I have not met Lord Mawhinney. We invited him to visit but he has not been as yet able to take up that offer."
A Football League spokes-man declined to comment on Lord Mawhinney's remarks, or on why the Football League is not on the museum board.
He said that the League does not contribute financially to the museum but contributes "in kind" by allowing it to exhibit its collection of football artefacts and memorabilia.
He said: "The League has always made it clear right from the start that it was happy to support the museum in kind rather than financially.
"Where we have been able to help, we always have. Large parts of our historical memorabilia have been provided. It would be wrong to suggest the Football League doesn't offer support to the museum."
www.lep.co.uk/news/39Keep-the-football-museum-in.4782611.jp
The Times: Martin Samuel - The Debate: The National Football Museum: Wembley versus Preston
Proud place, Preston. The next St Petersburg, according to Karl Marx, although he was hardly infallible when it came to predictions. Charles Dickens visited during the industrial revolution and his experiences are said to have inspired Coketown, the fictional backdrop for his novel, Hard Times.
Midway between London and Glasgow, many have passed through Preston over the centuries: the Romans, Bonnie Prince Charlie, the M6. And therein lies the problem. Most reach Preston and keep going: to the Lake District, to Blackpool, south to the capital. It is not the type of place that inspires a stay. The National Football Museum is there, too; though not that many know it.
The National Football Museum is another of those projects over which a committee presides in the pretence that London is not the hub of England. It is housed at Deepdale, home of Preston North End and the oldest operational football stadium in the world. Rich in significance and nostalgia, low on passing trade. There is no charge for entry, yet the most recent attendance figures state that in the year until June 2007 there were 106,000 visitors: to a free museum about a sport that is a global phenomenon, housing some truly exceptional exhibits.
There is now a move to build a national football museum at Wembley, supported by the FA and Football League. Mark Hendrick, MP for Preston, calls it obscene. “The Football League are turning their backs on a wonderful museum, situated in their home town at one of the League’s founding clubs,” he said, which sounds very grand and evocative, but utterly fails to take into account that the point of a museum is to get as many through the door as possible, and no way can that be achieved in Preston.
Sorry. That’s the deal. The capital gets gridlock, unaffordable houses, overpopulation, pollution and a lousy standard of living, but, on the upside, if you want to stare at a Titian or the Rosetta Stone, it is the place to be. The National Football Museum, like all projects of historical worth, has to be based where it is accessible. That is why there is a Tate Modern; not a Tate, Preston.
Debate: Where do you think the National Football Museum should be: Preston or London - and why?
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/martin_samuel/article5342250.ece?openComment=true
Lancashire Evening Post 11 December 2008
By Mark Hookham - 'Keep the football museum in Preston'
The chairman of the Football League has provoked fury after suggesting that the National Football Museum should move from Preston to Wembley.
Lord Brian Mawhinney, former chairman of the Tory Party, reportedly told MPs more people would be able to see the museum's iconic collection if it was based in London.
Preston's Labour MP Mark Hendrick described the comments, made during a session in Parliament, as "obscene" and "bizarre".
The remarks have lifted the lid on years of simmering tension between the Football League and the much-loved museum at Deepdale.
The LEP can reveal that:
l The Football League has consistently refused to make any financial contribution to the museum.
l It has repeatedly snubbed a long-standing invitation to take up a seat on the board.
l The director of the museum is not aware of any visit by Lord Mawhinney since he took up his post in January 2003.
Mr Hendrick used this week's evidence session of the all-party Parliamentary football group to press Lord Mawhinney on why the Football League is not more supportive of the museum – and was stunned when Lord Mawhinney said it should not even be in the city.
Lord Mawhinney reportedly said he wanted the museum at Wembley.
Labour backbencher Clive Betts, who saw the heated exchange, said: "Brian Mawhinney said: 'I think the national football museum should be at Wembley. There is no space for two, and with the museum at Wembley a lot more people would be able to see it and we would be able to get more income from the Wembley tour'."
A furious Mark Hendrick told the LEP: "I am worried about an organisation based in Preston that has done little to support the museum and a chairman who pays no attention to the history or the heritage of the game of which he is one of the authority leaders."
Museum boss Kevin Moore said he has never been given a formal reason why the Football League refuses to take a seat on the board.
The FA Premier League, PFA and FIFA all have representation.
He said: "We're disappointed. We would very much like them to be on our board."
He added: "Many members of the Football League are supportive of the museum being in Preston. I have not met Lord Mawhinney. We invited him to visit but he has not been as yet able to take up that offer."
A Football League spokes-man declined to comment on Lord Mawhinney's remarks, or on why the Football League is not on the museum board.
He said that the League does not contribute financially to the museum but contributes "in kind" by allowing it to exhibit its collection of football artefacts and memorabilia.
He said: "The League has always made it clear right from the start that it was happy to support the museum in kind rather than financially.
"Where we have been able to help, we always have. Large parts of our historical memorabilia have been provided. It would be wrong to suggest the Football League doesn't offer support to the museum."
www.lep.co.uk/news/39Keep-the-football-museum-in.4782611.jp