ALBION chief executive Paul Barber has voiced his concerns over the state of grassroots football after Fulham owner Shahid Khan's abandoned bid to buy Wembley.

Khan withdrew his £600 million offer when it became clear it would not get enough support from FA councillors.

One in six grassroots games had to be postponed last year, equating in total to 150,000 matches.

Barber, who was on the FA Board when the decision was made to build the new Wembley and was voted onto the Council in the summer as an Premier League rep, told The Argus: "Clearly the FA and Mister Khan have got to a position where they can't proceed.

"Fair enough, that's his right and their right. However, we do have to look at the significant issue of grassroots football and the pitches, the number of games being missed, the opportunity for kids to play being missed, and that sooner or later may well have an impact on all levels of the game, which we should be conscious of and concerned about.

"A kid doesn't get born into an academy. They start playing football on the park, at school, for the local club. We cannot afford to ignore the state of grassroots football because it links to us directly."

Albion manager Chris Hughton, a Cup winner at Wembley with Spurs in his playing career, said: "We've all been brought up as Wembley being the home of English football.

"I think it would have had to have been something more people bought into for it to change. There was probably more of an opinion that it wasn't such a good idea.

"It's difficult, unless you know so many of the ins and outs and the reasons why it was proposed to happen but I don't think there will be too many people disappointed that it's now back in the hands of English football and The FA."