Wembley head groundsman Steve Welch paid the price for the seventh playing surface being relaid at Wembley in two years, reports the Daily Mail. The state of the playing surface has come in for severe criticism in recent weeks.

The Football Association refused to comment but Jonathan Gregory, communications head for Wembley National Stadium Limited, the wholly-owned FA subsidiary who run the stadium, was reported to have said: "Officially, we will be making no comment until next week."