The Wembley pitch will be relaid every three months in future as the Football Association seeks to end criticism of the playing surface at the stadium that has become a regular source of embarrassment.
The pitch could be replaced as soon as next week after being heavily condemned following the FA Cup semi-finals last weekend, during which the players found it difficult to keep their footing and the surface cut up despite the dry conditions.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp described the surface as "ridiculous". Striker Peter Crouch said it was worse than any he had encountered at the stadium playing for England and had contributed to Michael Dawson's slip that led to Portsmouth's first goal.
A decision on whether to relay the pitch, at a cost of around £125,000, will be made after Saracens play Harlequins at the weekend. The FA is keen to ensure that the pitch is reliable ahead of its busiest and highest-profile period of the season, which will see the FA Cup final, the Football League play-offs and England's pre-World Cup friendly against Mexico.
The failure to produce a surface worthy of a stadium trumpeted as the greatest in the world is symptomatic of the troubled Wembley project and an organisation under strain.
In its first year of operation an NFL match reduced the pitch to a mud-bath before England's fateful Euro 2008 qualifying match with Croatia, and groundsman Steve Welch was sacked last year but problems persist.
The latest issue comes with England attempting to host the 2018 World Cup with a bid that claims to have the world's best facilities, and with the looming deadline of the 2011 Champions League final which will expose any failing to a global audience.
The latest difficulties have prompted dismay among senior FA officials, who were hopeful that a recent change of turf supplier to a firm recommended by former Tottenham manager Martin Jol would provide a solution. Chairman Lord Triesman even made reference to the quality of the pitch in his speech to VIPs before the first semi-final on Saturday.
The current pitch was laid only at the start of last month after the surface used for the Carling Cup final and England's friendly with Egypt drew public criticism from Sir Alex Ferguson and James Milner, and private unease from Fabio Capello.
The FA made no public comment on its plans on Monday but The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the problems this weekend were caused by the pitch becoming too dry and too firm after the pitch consultants misjudged conditions.
This is in contrast to the Carling Cup final pitch, which Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, said contributed to Michael Owen's season-ending hamstring strain, which was the first to remain in place through the winter but proved too soft and wet after the severe winter and heavy rain in the build-up to the match.
The two cases emphasise the failure to find a consistent solution to the challenge of providing a top-quality playing surface in a stadium that hosts more than a dozen non-football events each year to help meet interest on £346 million of debt.
The FA has accepted that there is no alternative to regularly replacing the pitch and believes that each one can perform well for at least three months.
The quarterly relaying is likely to see the pitch replaced in January, then in April after the FA Cup semi-finals, in July before the new season and again in the autumn ahead of winter fixtures.
Wembley management have revised their event schedule to ensure that there are regular gaps in the year to allow the work to take place. A pitch takes four days to lay and up to two weeks to bed in.
The FA is also planning to purchase a pitch cover, and will not repeat the experiment of leaving a pitch in place through the winter.
The aim is to provide a consistent surface, with next year's Champions League final seen as a crucial event to prove that a solution has been found.
Last year groundsman Welch was sacked and replaced by a team from the Sports Turf Research Institute, who oversee the Wembley groundstaff.
STRI have been collecting data about the surface, including moisture levels and the rate of compaction – the firmness of the pitch – for a year in the hope that they can establish optimum conditions for each new pitch.
Using this data at the weekend STRI were hoping to reproduce the dry, firm conditions that saw the pitch play well last summer and autumn, when the FA Cup final, the Community Shield, England's qualifying matches and an NFL game were staged without complaint.
However, the dry conditions in the build-up to the game meant that they exceeded their targets and ended up with a surface that was too dry and firm. Once the problem was identified it could not be rectified by watering without making it too wet.
There will be no let-up in the number of events staged at the stadium. Wembley confirmed it would be hosting the Capital FM Summertime Ball on June 6, with Green Day playing two weeks later and Muse playing two concerts in September.
There will be up to six concerts a year as well as regular rugby matches – Saracens have a contract to stage up to four matches a season and the Challenge Cup final is played at Wembley – and other one-off events such as the Race of Champions.
The failure to produce a surface worthy of a stadium trumpeted as the greatest in the world is symptomatic of the troubled Wembley project and an organisation under strain.
In its first year of operation an NFL match reduced the pitch to a mud-bath before England's fateful Euro 2008 qualifying match with Croatia, and groundsman Steve Welch was sacked last year but problems persist.
The latest issue comes with England attempting to host the 2018 World Cup with a bid that claims to have the world's best facilities, and with the looming deadline of the 2011 Champions League final which will expose any failing to a global audience.
The latest difficulties have prompted dismay among senior FA officials, who were hopeful that a recent change of turf supplier to a firm recommended by former Tottenham manager Martin Jol would provide a solution. Chairman Lord Triesman even made reference to the quality of the pitch in his speech to VIPs before the first semi-final on Saturday.
The current pitch was laid only at the start of last month after the surface used for the Carling Cup final and England's friendly with Egypt drew public criticism from Sir Alex Ferguson and James Milner, and private unease from Fabio Capello.
The FA made no public comment on its plans on Monday but The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the problems this weekend were caused by the pitch becoming too dry and too firm after the pitch consultants misjudged conditions.
This is in contrast to the Carling Cup final pitch, which Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, said contributed to Michael Owen's season-ending hamstring strain, which was the first to remain in place through the winter but proved too soft and wet after the severe winter and heavy rain in the build-up to the match.
The two cases emphasise the failure to find a consistent solution to the challenge of providing a top-quality playing surface in a stadium that hosts more than a dozen non-football events each year to help meet interest on £346 million of debt.
The FA has accepted that there is no alternative to regularly replacing the pitch and believes that each one can perform well for at least three months.
The quarterly relaying is likely to see the pitch replaced in January, then in April after the FA Cup semi-finals, in July before the new season and again in the autumn ahead of winter fixtures.
Wembley management have revised their event schedule to ensure that there are regular gaps in the year to allow the work to take place. A pitch takes four days to lay and up to two weeks to bed in.
The FA is also planning to purchase a pitch cover, and will not repeat the experiment of leaving a pitch in place through the winter.
The aim is to provide a consistent surface, with next year's Champions League final seen as a crucial event to prove that a solution has been found.
Last year groundsman Welch was sacked and replaced by a team from the Sports Turf Research Institute, who oversee the Wembley groundstaff.
STRI have been collecting data about the surface, including moisture levels and the rate of compaction – the firmness of the pitch – for a year in the hope that they can establish optimum conditions for each new pitch.
Using this data at the weekend STRI were hoping to reproduce the dry, firm conditions that saw the pitch play well last summer and autumn, when the FA Cup final, the Community Shield, England's qualifying matches and an NFL game were staged without complaint.
However, the dry conditions in the build-up to the game meant that they exceeded their targets and ended up with a surface that was too dry and firm. Once the problem was identified it could not be rectified by watering without making it too wet.
There will be no let-up in the number of events staged at the stadium. Wembley confirmed it would be hosting the Capital FM Summertime Ball on June 6, with Green Day playing two weeks later and Muse playing two concerts in September.
There will be up to six concerts a year as well as regular rugby matches – Saracens have a contract to stage up to four matches a season and the Challenge Cup final is played at Wembley – and other one-off events such as the Race of Champions.
